

Glass ^ 
Book- 


GIFT OF HEIRS OF 
DR. LOUIS R. KLEMM 




















































































































ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES 


READ BEFORE THE 


NORTH-EASTERN 


OHIO TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION 


Organized Nov. 13, 1869. 


PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE ASSOCIATION. 



CLEVELAND I 

FAIRBANKS, BENEDICT & CO., PRINTERS. 

1876 . 




4-L3 

£ 7 £ 







,ouis R. Klemm 
Bequest 

b, 1926 



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PREFACE. 


The North-Eastern Ohio Teachers’ Association, at its regular 
meeting, held in Cleveland, December 11, 1875, appointed a com- 
mittee of its members to make a collection of essays and addresses 
read at its several meetings, and have the same printed and bound, as 
a contribution to the educational exhibit of Ohio at the “Centennial.’’ 

In obedience to this action this volume has been prepared. 

The thanks of the Association are due to the educators whose 
papers appear in the following pages, for their generous compliance 
with the wishes of the body of teachers who made the demand upon 
them; and the Committee of Publication desire to express their 
thanks to all who have aided them in the preparation of this volume. 

ANDR. J. RICKOFF, 

E. F. MOULTON, 

SAMUEL FINDLEY, 

L. L. CAMPBELL, 

ALEX. FORBES, 

Committee of Publication . 


































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A BRIEF HISTORY. 


For a year or two a number of superintendents 
and teachers of the schools, in the cities and towns 
of which Cleveland is the commercial centre, had 
been accustomed to meet frequently and exchange 
views on questions pertaining to their special work. 
These informal meetings were felt to be profitable 
to those engaging in them. The opinion was gener- 
ally entertained that there was professional interest 
among the teachers to warrant an organization which 
should hold meetings at stated times, thus securing 
agreement as to time of meeting and questions to be 
considered. Accordingly, on Saturday, November 
13 , 1869 , a few gentlemen met in one of the rooms 
of the Weddell House, and there organized the 
North-Eastern Ohio Teachers’ Association. 
An earnest desire for combined and vigorous effort 
in educational work; an honest purpose to secure 
improvement in methods of instruction, in classifi- 
cation, and in the details of school management, 


6 


North-Eastern Ohio 


called it into existence. The co-operation of all 
engaged as superintendents or teachers, of all on 
whom might rest responsibility for the condition of 
the schools ; sympathy begotten of personal associ- 
ation and acquaintance with one another; mutual 
helpfulness resulting from comparison of views, 
plans and experiences, — these were the objects in 
view ; — in fair measure they have been the prac- 
tical results of an uninterrupted experience of over 
six years. 

That the organization might have the outward 
sign of an existence, and that there might be a few 
rules by which its members should govern them- 
selves, the meeting adopted the following Constitu- 
tion and By-Laws : 

CONSTITUTION. 

Article I. The object of this Association shall 
be the professional improvement of its members, 
the advancement, in true educational progress, of 
the schools of this section of the State, and the 
dissemination of correct educational ideas. 

Article II. The Association shall be known as 
The North-Eastern Ohio Teachers’ Association. 

Article III. The officers of the Association 
shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, 
a Treasurer, and an Executive Committee of three 
members, who shall hold their offices for one year, 


Teachers 9 vlssocialion. 


7 


or until their successors shall have been elected. 
Their duties shall be the same as usually devolve 
upon like officers in similar organizations. 

Article IY. Any teacher, or other friend of 
education, may become a member of this Associa- 
tion. The membership fee shall be one dollar, to be 
paid to the Treasurer of the Association annually. 

Article Y. This Constitution may be amended 
at any regular meeting of the Association, by a 
majority vote of all the members present, notice of 
the proposed amendment having been given, in 
writing, at any previous meeting. 


BY-LAWS. 

Article I. The regular meetings of the Associ- 
ation shall be held in Cleveland, unless otherwise 
ordered by a vote of the Association, on the second 
Saturdays of February, April, June, October and 
December. 

Article II. The annual election of officers shall 
be held at the regular meeting in December of each 
year. 

Article III. These By Laws may be changed 
at any regular meeting, by a majority vote of the 
members present and voting. 

The following are the officers elected for the first 
year: 

President — Thomas W. Harvey, Superintendent of 
Schools, Painesville. 


8 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


Vice-President — Samuel Findley, Superintendent of 
Schools, Akron. 

Secretary — H. B. Furness, Superintendent of Schools, 
Warren. 

Treasurer — 0. S. Bragg, Cleveland. 

Executive Committee— A. J. Kickoff, Superintendent 
of Schools, Cleveland ; G. N. Carruthers, Superintendent 
of Schools, Elyria; R. W. Stevenson, Superintendent of 
Schools, Norwalk. 

The first regular meeting of the Association was 
held, according to the provisions of the Constitution, 
on the second Saturday of December (Dec. 11), 1869. 
This first meeting was largely attended by the super- 
intendents and teachers of this section of the State. 
The programme was as follows : 

I. Inaugural Address of the President. 

II. The Model Teacher — S. Findley, Superintendent of 
Schools, Akron. 

III. Discussion. 

IV. Report on the Condition of the Public Schools of 

Ohio — Hon. W. D. Henkle, State Commissioner 
of Common Schools. 

V. Discussion of Report. 

Some account of this first meeting may prove to 
be of interest. The inaugural address of the Presi- 
dent, Hon. T. W. Harvey, then Superintendent of 
Schools, Painesville, a synopsis of which appears as 
the first paper of this volume, marked out important 


Teachers' Association. 


9 


work, to the earnest consideration of which the 
Association at once addressed itself. President 
Harvey called attention to the importance of con- 
sidering such questions as, I. The improvement 
of our country schools. II. A uniform classifica- 
tion of our town and city schools. III. A Course 
of Study arranged with reference to the classifica- 
tion. IV. Practical and disciplinary studies. V. 
New Methods of instruction ; and VI. Moral and 
religious instruction. 

The address was received with much favor by ail, 
many of the members publicly expressing their 
hearty approval of the plan of work indicated. Mr. 
Findley’s paper was an able one, indicating with 
peculiar distinctness what the true teacher should 
be ; what he should not be ; what agencies essential 
to the thorough training of teachers were wanting in 
our State; the duty of the State to provide good 
teachers for its children ; and lamenting that there 
were not at least half a dozen good, well organized, 
thoroughly equipped State Normal Schools in Ohio. 

The report of Hon. W. D. Henkle was largely 
devoted to the pressing importance of improving 
the condition of the schools in the rural districts. 
The school system of the State was explained at 
length. Attention was called to the great difficulty 


10 


North- Eastern Ohio 


experienced in obtaining accurate reports and reli- 
able statistics. Many of the official reports received 
at the office of the School Commissioner were stated 
to be practically worthless. Mr. Henkle recom- 
mended, as the only adequate agencies for the 
correction of the principal evils retarding progress 
in our common schools, County Supervision and 
State Normal Schools. 

After considerable discussion, evincing great 
interest in the subjects presented, the following 
resolution was adopted: 

Whereas, It is obvious and generally conceded 
that the schools in the rural districts of our State 
have not shared, to any great extent, in the progress 
enjoyed by the schools of our cities and towns ; and, 

Whereas, It is believed that the progress of the 
schools in our cities and towns is largely due to 
intelligent supervision ; therefore, 

Resolved, That we, the members of the North- 
Eastern Ohio Teachers’ Association, do most earn- 
estly petition the Legislature of our State for the 
speedy adoption of such measures as shall best 
secure to all the schools of the State the benefits of 
intelligent supervision. 

In the discussion of the above resolution most 
of the members pronounced themselves as having 
occupied substantially the position taken by the 


Teachers’ Association. 


11 


resolution, for many years, and the President, in 
a most felicitous speech, announced his hearty 
acquiescence in a doctrine not hitherto held by 
him, as of first importance, and pronounced himself 
an advocate of County Superintendency. 

Hon. Z. Richards, Superintendent of Schools, 
Washington, D. C., being present, accepted an 
invitation to participate in the proceedings of the 
day. 

On motion of Hon. W. I). Henkle the following 
committees were appointed : 

Committee on Country Schools — S. Gr. Barnard, M. C. 
Stevens, J. F. Lukens. 

Committee on Classification — A. J. Kickoff, H. B. 
Furness, G. N. Carruthers. 

Committee on Course of Study — R. W. Stevenson, I. 
M. Clemens, M. C. Stevens. 

Committee on Practical and Disciplinary Studies — W. P. 
Hussey, Aaron Schuyler, C. H. Roberts. 

Committee on New Methods.— Alex. Forbes, W. P. 
Hussey, A. J. Kickoff. 

Committee on Moral Instruction Lee, Samuel 

Findley, Aaron Schuyler. 

The Association adjourned to the parlors of the 
Weddell House for the purpose of social improve- 
ment, and that the members might the more easily 
become acquainted with one another. This first 


12 


North-Eastern Ohio 


meeting was an important one — important in itself 
considered, but more important still for its influence 
on subsequent meetings. High ground was taken 
at the very opening ; important questions were pre- 
sented* for investigation ; experience has proven that 
the first meeting was a representative one. 

The most important work performed by the 
Association at the meetings held in February, and in 
April following, was the consideration of the reports 
presented by the various committees appointed at 
first meeting. The committees on Classification' on 
Course of Study and on Studies united and divided 
the work among themselves. The result of their 
careful deliberations, and of the action of the Asso- 
ciation is to be found in the following Course of 
Study adopted, and recommended to superintendents 
of schools and to boards of education throughout 
North-Eastern Ohio. 


Teachers' Association. 


13 


COURSE OF STUDY FOR GRADED SCHOOLS. 


PRIMARY SCHOOL COURSE. 

FOURTH GRADE. 

Reading. — Cards and Primer completed. 

Spelling. — All words employed in the lessons of the grade. 

Writing. — Roman and script letters, on slates, and with 
pencil on paper. 

Arithmetic. — Concrete numbers . Counting with and with- 
out objects to fifty. Addition, subtraction, multiplica- 
tion, and division of numbers. No number to be 
introduced greater than twenty. Notation of tens 
taught objectively. No exercises involving two or 
more different processes to be required. 

Language. — Attention to be paid to pronunciation, and 
to the correction of common errors in the use of lan- 
guage. 

Objects. — Lessons on the human body, sound, size, weight, 
color, place, form, and mammals. 

Moral Instruction. — Lessons inculcating obedience, 
order, love, pity, etc., from pictures and narratives. 

Drawing. — Under direction of the Superintendent. 

THIRD GRADE. 

Reading. — First Reader. 

Spelling. — See previous grade. 

Writing. — See previous grade. 

Drawing. — See previous grade. 


14 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


Arithmetic. — Exercises, mental and written, in addition, 
subtraction, multiplication, and division of abstract 
and concrete numbers to eightv-one. Notation and 
numeration of hundreds, tens, and units illustrated 
objectively. Roman numerals to L. 

Language. — Putting words into sentences; discovering 
new words with use of pictures, etc. 

Objects. — Lessons on sound, size, weight, color, place, 
form, mammals, birds. 

Moral Instruction. — Illustrating politeness, cheerful- 
ness, kindness, forgiveness, etc., as in Fourth Grade. 


SECOND GRADE. 

Reading. — Second Reader. 

Spelling.-— See previous grade. 

Writing. — See previous grade. 

Drawing. — See previous grade. 

Arithmetic. — Addition and multiplication continued. 
Subtraction taught and illustrated objectively. Exer- 
eises in subtraction, minuend not to exceed thousands. 
Notation of simple proper fractions. Exercises in 
single-step reductions (descending), on such parts of 
tables as may be derived from object lessons. 

Language. — Same as in Third Grade, with modifications 
to denote time, place, degree, etc. 

Objects. — Lessons on size, weight, color, place, form, mam- 
mals, birds. The discovery of qualities of objects; 
comparison of objects by means of their qualities. 

Moral Instruction. — Illustrating habits of perseverance, 
self-control, etc. 


Teachers' Association. 


15 


Lessons Preparatory to Geography— Location and 
direction of things in the school-room and of the 
neighboring streets and public buildings. Direction 
of some of the principal objects throughout the city 
or village. The use of maps illustrated by maps of 
the school-room, school-yard, and the neighboring 
streets, drawn upon the blackboard by the teacher 
and pupil. The map of the town or city. Direction 
as indicated by the map. 

FIRST GRADE. 

Reading. — Third Reader. 

Spelling. — See previous grade. 

Writing. — See previous grade. 

Drawing. — See previous grade. 

Arithmetic. — Exercises in addition, subtraction, multipli- 
cation, and short division. Reductions to correspond 
with object lessons. Simple calculation of surfaces of 
rectangles, two sides being given ; of triangles, base 
and perpendicular height being given, and of the con- 
tents of parallelopipedons, dimensions not to exceed 
ten. Applications to reduction of fractions, and single- 
step reductions of compound numbers to correspond 
with object lessons. All concrete examples to be 
analyzed. 

Language. — Name-words, action-words connected with 
the idea of past, present, and future ; the simple state- 
ment, with have , he, and with other verbs ; quality- 
words; the name-word modified; quality- word modi- 
fied; number- word; limiting-word ; action -word mod- 
ified to denote where , ivhen, how , and what. 

Objects. — At discretion of Superintendent. 


16 


Norlh-Easiern Ohio 


Geography. — The map of the State of Ohio to be taught 
with the aid of the black-board. The productions of 
the State and pursuits of the people. General lessons 
on the physical features of the surrounding country. 
Lessons on the United States, and oral lessons on the 
map of the world. 


GRAMMAR SCHOOL COURSE. 

FOURTH GRADE. 

Reading. — Fourth Reader. 

Spelling. — See previous grade. 

Drawing. — See previous grade. 

Writing. — In copy-book with pen. 

Arithmetic. — Long division. Principles of numbers to be 
developed by the teacher. Federal money. The iden- 
tity of this system of notation with the decimal system 
pointed out and illustrated. Reduction, and addition 
and subtraction of compound numbers. Cancellation 
and Cloth and Beer measure to be omitted. 

Language. — Nouns — number, gender, and classes of; 
verbs — number of; adjectives, adverbs. The element, 
a word; the element, compound; conjunction, co- 
ordinate. The element, a group of words; phrase, 
preposition. Arrangement of words in the statement. 
Pronoun — Person of; case— nominative and objective; 
of pronoun with verb, with preposition, nominative 
and objective ; cases of nouns with verb and preposi- 
tion. Copula, with the eleven forms of the verb to be . 
Verbs — transitive and intransitive ; number and per- 
son of verb. 

Objects. — See previous grades. 


Teachers ’ Association. 


17 


Geography. — The Central States, commencing at Ohio 
and proceeding thence to contiguous States, with oral 
instruction upon terms used in describing the physical 
features, and those used in the study of mathematical 
geography. The Middle-Atlantic, ISTew-England and 
South-Atlantic States. The United States completed, 
with review of definitions. 

(Mechanical Powers. — Levers, Balance, Steel-yard, Cen- 
ter of Gravity. Equilibrium of Bodies. Wheel and 
Axle. Pulley — different forms. Inclined Plane. Wedge. 
Screw. Practical application of each. 

Botany. — Fall term, Leaves and Stems. Spring term 
Inflorescence and Flowers.) 


THIRD GRADE. 

Reading. — Selections from Fifth Reader. 

Spelling. — See previous grades. 

Drawing. — See previous grades. 

Writing.— See Fourth Grammar School Grade. 

Arithmetic. — Multiplication and division of compound 
numbers. The subject of factoring, G. C. D. and L. 
C. M. to be developed by the teacher. The develop- 
ment of fractions, terms, simple, proper and improper 
fractions; principles of fractions; reduction to lowest 
terms; compound to simple; common denominator. 
Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and 
review of fractions of simple numbers. 


18 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


Language. — The word element — principal and subordi- 
nate, subject, predicate; members of compound sen- 
tences. Adjective element — a Avord, classification and 
comparison of adjectives — possessive case of nouns and 
pronouns. Adverbial element — a word, classification 
developed as the adjective. The element, a phrase ; the 
phrase adjective and adverbial. The element, a modi- 
fying clause. Subordinate conjunctions ; complex sen- 
tences. 

Objects. — Oral lessons in Natural History, with special 
reference to classification. 

Geography. — The United States reviewed. North and 
South America. Geographical abbreviations. Europe, 
Asia and Africa. Geographical abbreviations. Aus- 
tralia. The entire subject reviewed. Geographical 
abbreviations. 

(Properties of Matter. — General. Specific. Illustra- 
tions of each. 

Molecular Forces.— Cohesion. Adhesion. Capillary 

Attraction. Currents, etc. Gravity. Weight. 

Pressure of Liquids. — Hydraulic Press. Specific Grav- 
ity — practical use of. 

Flotation. — Principles and conditions of. Application to 
ships, fishes, etc. Different kinds of water wheels. 

Botany. — Fall term, Fruits. Spring term, Roots.) 

SECOND GRADE. 

Reading. — Fifth Reader. 

Spelling. — See previous grades. 

Writing. —See previous grades. 

Drawing. — At discretion of Superintendent. 


Teachers' Association. 


19 


Arithmetic. — Decimals, simple and compound; their 
relation to common fractions to he kept in view. 
Ratio and proportion and aliquots ; percentage to 
interest, with review of arithmetic as far as studied. 

Language. — Relative pronoun; conjunctive adverbs ; verbs, 
tense and mode; interrogative words. Review of sub- 
ject as far as studied. 

Objects. — See preceding grade. 

Geography. — Review to correspond to work of fourth. 

(Pneumatics. — Pressure of Atmosphere. Barometer. Air 
Pump. Balloons. Common Pump. Forcing Pump. 
Fire Engine, etc. 

Acoustics. — Sound. Quality and intensity of echo. Noise, 
and musical tone. Diatonic Scale. Musical instru- 
ments. 

Optics. — Light, sources of. Shadows. Mirrors. Lenses. 
Colors. Spectrum. Optical instruments. 

Zoology. — Vertebrates. Mammals; Birds; Reptiles; Ba- 
trachians; Fishes.) 


FIRST GRADE. 

Reading.— U. S. History. Selections with a view to elocu- 
tionary drill. 

Spelling.— See previous grades. 

Drawing. — Under the direction of the Superintendent. 

Arithmetic. — The whole subject completed and reviewed, 
omitting permutation and alligation alternate. 

Language. — Abridged forms — apposition, phrases lor 
clauses, participles, case absolute, interjections; com- 
plete analysis of sentences; punctuation. Review in 
order of text-book, with classification. 

Objects. — See preceding grade. 


20 


NorVi-Easiern Ohio 


Geography. — Review to correspond to work of Third 
Grade. 

(Heat. — Sources. Effects upon liquids and solids. Prac- 
tical applications and uses. Thermometer. Steam 
Engine. Clouds, dew, etc. 

Electricity.— Properties of Magnets. Compass. Devel- 
opment of different kinds. Telegraph — fire-alarm, 

and other practical applications. 

Zoology. — Articulates. Insects; Crustaceans; Worms. 
Mollusks. Radiates.) 

General review of the Course. 

It is recommended that all concrete 'problems in arith- 
metic he analyzed, and that the “ Rule ” in each particular 
case he learned, if at all, only upon leaving the subject for 
the next in the order. 

It is also recommended that all subjects in language 
be synthetically developed, until the first grades of the 
Grammar School be reached, when analysis should be 
prominently developed. 

It is further recommended that daily exercise be had in 
impromptu composition, with special attention to capitals, 
spelling and punctuation. 

It is earnestly recommended that frequent exercises in 
Reading be had in other than text-books, and that peri- 
odicals be used for this purpose in all , except the Fourth 
and Third Primary Grades. 

Physics. — About half of each year throughout the Gram- 
mar Course, according to the plan indicated in the 
outline previously submitted by the committee. 


Teachers' Association. 


21 


Botany. — Remaining time for Grades 0 and D, according 
to the plan indicated in Miss Youman’s First Book of 
Botany, with the addition of subject of Fruits in the 
Fall Term. 

Zoology. — Remaining time for Grades A and B, according 
to plan indicated in Tenney’s Natural History of 
Animals. 

N. B— So much of this ‘‘Course of Study” as is included within 
parentheses is only recommended by the Committee appointed to revise 
the Course of Study. It has not been adopted. 


* 


22 


North-Eastern Ohio 


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Teachers’ Association. 


23 


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. — That part of the High School Course pertaining to No. 5, English Literature, was not adopted, but merely recommended by the 


24 


North-Eastern Ohio 


The Course of Study thus recommended was never, 
probably, wholly adopted by any board of educa- 
tion; was never, perhaps, as a whole, recommended 
for adoption by any superintendent. Each town, 
and every superintendent found something desirable 
in a course of study not found in the one recom- 
mended; something recommended not attainable or 
desirable, it may be, in the schools to be provided 
for. While it was not expected that the recom- 
mendation of the Association would be adopted 
without such slight modifications as special locali- 
ties might deem wise, it was yet hoped that, inas- 
much as the object of school training is substantially 
the same in all places, and the same studies produce 
substantially the same results in city or village, the 
Course of Study, if wisely prepared, could, and 
would be, very generally adopted in its essential 
features. 

The advantages expected from approximate uni- 
formity were numerous. The experiences of each 
superintendent and teacher would be more valua- 
ble to others; the amount of work which could 
justly be demanded of any grade, in a given time, 
could be more satisfactorily determined; pupils 
removing from one town to another would be reason- 
ably certain to find a place for which their previous 


Teachers' Association. 


25 


study would have prepared them; the recommenda- 
tions of superintendents concerning such pupils 
would become valuable aids to the authorities 
receiving them, in proper classification. These and 
other important advantages were expected as the 
results of essential uniformity in studies pursued. 

The recommendation of the Association was gen- 
erally received with favor, and it was not long ere 
the various cities and towns so modified their 
courses of study that they were substantially alike 
on essentials, both as to subjects included and the 
order in which these subjects were to be pursued. 

At the meetings held while the Course of Study 
was under consideration, model lessons in many of 
the branches taught were given. Classes were 
brought before the Association, and exercises con- 
ducted by the regular teachers of these classes, 
the pupils being closely questioned by members. 
Full discussions generally followed these exercises. 
Classes in Reading, in Language, in Object Lessons, 
in Arithmetic, in English Grammar, in History, etc., 
were thus brought before the Association, and the 
exercise in each case subjected to thorough criticism 
as to the value of the method pursued, and not 
unfrequently as to the manner in which the method 
was presented. 


26 


. 'Norlli-Easlern Ohio 


The same practice was continued occasionally for 
a number of years. Of the great practical value of 
these illustrative exercises and model lessons, seri- 
ous doubt has never been entertained. They were 
valuable in themselves, as giving practical illustra- 
tion of modes of teaching, and not less valuable as 
illustrating the spirit of the recommended Course of 
Study. 

Much as was accomplished in this way, it was 
very generally felt that more was needed that the 
recommendation of the Association might accom- 
plish its fullest measure of possible good. A large 
number of teachers engaged in the schools at any 
one time, are without experience in the work of 
graded schools. They have difficulty in compre- 
hending what is necessary to do the work of one 
grade in such a way as to prepare the classes in 
their charge for the work of the next higher grade. 
Many who had experience in schools but partially 
graded, had but imperfect knowledge of how the 
recommendations found in the prescribed course 
could be realized in their daily work in the schools. 
Imperfect knowledge of methods was believed to be 
a serious hindrance. 

In the larger cities, Annual Institutes and regular 
Teachers’ Meetings had accomplished much in the 


Teachers' Association. 


27 


way of improving methods of instruction. In the 
smaller cities, towns and villages these agencies had 
not been deemed generally practicable. The County 
Teachers’ Institute could not be relied on to provide 
adequate agencies for the desired work. It has been 
found that there is ever, in these County Institutes, 
a tendency to complain that too much of the instruc- 
tion given at them has special reference or is of value 
only to graded schools. Any systematic effort to 
train teachers in the work involved in carrying 
out the recommendations of the Course of Study, 
was impossible through the agency of the County 
Institutes. 

Yet, unless the great body of teachers engaged 
in the graded schools of the country, could become 
familiar with the work involved in the Course, and 
the best methods by which the work might be done, 
permanency and efficiency could not be expected. 
The schools would be no nearer uniformity than 
heretofore. 

These considerations, and others of similar nature, 
led the Association, at its meeting in April, 1870, to 
adopt the following resolution : 

Resolved , That it be proposed by this Association 
to the towns and cities in North-Eastern Ohio, that 
an Institute be held in Cleveland, commencing 


28 


North-Eastern Ohio 


August 29th, and continuing two weeks, the object 
of which shall be the preparation of teachers for the 
special work of the several grades of the schools 
thereof; and that the towns and cities be requested 
to unite in this enterprise, and contribute one dollar 
for each teacher employed in their schools, for the 
payment of necessary expenses. 

A Committee on Teachers’ Institute was then 
appointed. Messrs. C. L. Hotze, of Cleveland, S. 
Findley,, of Akron, Thos. W. Harvey, of Paines- 
ville, H. M. James, of'Cleveland, and C. H. Roberts, 
of Geneva, were appointed on said committee, and 
entrusted with the task of working out a modus 
operandi for the Institute. 

At the next meeting, in June, the committee laid 
the following programme before the Association : 

The committee entrusted with drafting a plan for 
the Teachers’ Institute to be held in the Central 
High School rooms of this city, from August 29th to 
September 9th, inclusive, are of the opinion that the 
subjects to be taught in the Institute should be the 
most important among those of the Course of Study 
recently adopted by this Association, and already 
introduced in the schools of the neighboring towns — 
Arithmetic, Language and Grammar, Geography, 
Object Lessons, Penmanship, Reading and Singing. 

The committee have classified the eight grades 
of our Primary and Grammar Schools into four 


leachers' plssocialion. 


29 


classes— the teachers of D and C Primary Grades to 
constitute the fourth class of the Institute; B and A 
Primary to constitute the third; D and C Grammar 
Grades to constitute the second ; and B and A Gram- 
mar to constitute the first. 

The programme of the daily exercises to be as 
follows : 


FOR THE COMMON SCHOOL BRANCHES. 


A. M. I. 

8:50 — 9:80 Language. 

9:35 — 10:15 Penmanship 

and Reading. 

10:35—11:15 
11:20 — 12:00 Singing. 


II. 

Singing. 

Geography. 


III. IV. 

Penmanship Arithmetic, 

and Reading. 

Arithmetic. Singing. 


Penmanship Object Lessons. Language, 
and Reading. 

Object Lessons. Language. Object Lessons. 


2:80 — 3:10 Object Lessons. Arithmetic. Geography. 

8:15 — 3:55 Arithmetic. Language. Singing. Penmanship and 

Reading. 


FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL BRANCHES. 

Teachers of High Schools are divided into four 


classes : 



A. M. 

I, II. 

III, IV. 

8:50— 9:30 

Trigonometry and Surveying. 

Grammar. 

10:35-11:15 

Botany. 

Latin. 

9:35-10:15 

History. 

Algebra. 

11:20—12:00 


Geometry. 

P. M. 

2:30— 3:10 

Astronomy. 

Object Lessons. 

8:15 — 3:55 

Geology, 

Arithmetic. 


This report was unanimously adopted, and the 
committee requested to send out circulars to the 
boards of education and superintendents in the 


30 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


several cities and towns within the district of the 
Association. 

A committee of reception — Messrs James, Forbes 
and Day, of Cleveland — was entrusted with the care 
of procuring boarding-places for the teachers from 
abroad. During vacation numerous answers to the 
letters of invitation were received; also applications 
from many teachers who desired to attend, although 
their boards, for some reason or other, had failed to 
make provision for them. 

On the appointed day, August 29th, about three 
hundred and fifty teachers assembled, and, being 
divided into the classes indicated in the programme, 
passed to their respective rooms, which they kept 
during the entire session of the Institute. Printed 
cards, containing the programme of daily exercises, 
the plan of classification of the teachers, the assign- 
ment of rooms and minor details, were distributed 
and the work was commenced. 

THE CORPS OF INSTRUCTORS. 

For the Common School Branches . — Thomas 
W. Harvey, Painesville, English Grammar ; Mrs. 
Mary H. Smith, New York, Geography and Object 
Lessons for III and IV, and U. S. History for I; 
Miss M. S. Cooper, Oswego, Language for III and 


Teachers’ Association. 


31 


IV, and Object Lessons for I and II ; Alex. Forbes, 
Cleveland, Arithmetic ; A. P. Root, Cleveland, Pen- 
manship ; N. Coe Stewart, Cleveland, Singing ; A. J. 
Rickoff and W. Higley, both of Cleveland, Reading. 

For the High School Branches. — S. G. Williams, 
Cleveland, Surveying, Latin, Geology, etc.; Warren 
Higley, Cleveland, Algebra; C. L. Hotze, Cleveland, 
History, Physics and Composition. 

Probably no other institute of the kind has ever 
been held. Certainly nothing of the kind had ever 
before been attempted in Ohio. It was decided upon 
as an agency in a new work — that of rendering pos- 
sible and probable the adoption of a substantially 
uniform Course of Study in the cities, towns and 
villages of a considerable portion of the State ; that 
the agency should itself be a new thing, is not 
strange. 

From all the leading towns of North-Eastern Ohio 
came superintendents and teachers, — from Akron, 
Ravenna, Kent, Warren, Massillon, Canton, Paines- 
ville, Geneva, Ashtabula, Elyria, Wellington, Oberlin, 
Norwalk, and from other places. Many teachers, 
not occupying positions under boards of education 
who gave official encouragement to the enterprise, 
attended during the whole session, losing salary for 
the benefits of the Institute. All who attended, from 


32 


‘Norl'h-EasUrn Ohio 


places other than the city of Cleveland, incurred 
very considerable extra expense in railroad fare and 
board-bills. The work of the Institute, after the first 
half day, was as well regulated as is the daily work 
of a well-organized school. There was no loss of 
time — no absence of members. The entire company 
attended as regularly, as punctually as they could be 
asked to do, in their respective schools as teachers. 

The fruits of these two weeks of earnest work 
were all that could have been desired — very much 
greater than what was anticipated. 

The whole Course of Study was carefully consid- 
ered — the best way in which its various recommen- 
dations could be realized, was carefully pointed 
out. Everything was submitted to the test of experi- 
ence, and unworthy recommendations were made to 
appear so. With the fullest discussion of every 
point, there was yet no captious fault-finding, simply 
for the sake of opposing. Thus this great company 
of teachers became, for the time being, schools of 
earnest pupils of all departments. Thus they were 
able to test the wisdom of the Course of Study, and 
of the methods urged for carrying out its provisions 
through all its parts. 

But there were other, and not less important, 
advantages arising from this gathering together of 


Teachers' Association . 


33 


the teachers. In the ordinary gatherings at the 
meetings of the Association, the advantages are 
much in the ratio of acquaintance. This Institute 
presented an unusually favorable opportunity for 
teachers becoming acquainted. No one ever knows 
the worth or worthlessness of what another does or 
says, unless fully acquainted. Many a word passes 
for little, which, were the experience which begets 
it known, would be of service. By becoming 
acquainted, the probabilities of mutual helpfulness 
at subsequent meetings were largely increased. 
Besides, the mutual exchange of views, experi- 
ences, modes of teaching and control, as they were 
discussed during intervals of work — as they were 
related by the way to or from daily sessions, were 
among the most valuable experiences of the time. 

Young and inexperienced teachers went into their 
schools with definite ideas of what should be done, 
and with some knowledge of method of doing. 
Doubtless this class of teachers were sensible of 
having gained more than others. All, however, 
gained much, and at the end of the session all were 
tired — tired from the work, not tired of the work. 

The interest felt in this Institute wns not confined 
to the section whose teachers attended the session, 
but excited much interest in other portions of our 


3 


34 


. North-Easier n Ohio 


State. Indeed, so great and so general was the 
interest in the Institute, so frequent were inquiries 
made concerning its organization and its work, that 
Hon. W. D. Henkle, State Commissioner of Com- 
mon Schools, in order to answer the many questions 
reaching his office concerning it, secured a brief 
synopsis of the work done, and incorporated the 
same in the Seventeenth Annual Report of the State 
Commissioner of Common Schools. 

The synopsis gives, very briefly, the work 
attempted. In this synopsis, methods of present- 
ation are given rather than details of work done. 
Just what amount of work was done at that Insti- 
tute could prove of no material service to any one 
after so great a lapse of time. But the methods 
recommended, so far as they are correct, must be of 
abiding value. For this reason it is believed that, 
to those who attended, this account will be of inter- 
est; and to many who have come into our ranks 
since that time, it cannot be without much value. 
It is given here as it was printed in the Commis- 
sioner’s Report. 

If on no other ground, as a most important item 
in the history of the Association, its right to a place 
will be recognized. 


' Teachers * Association. 


35 


SYLLABUS OF INSTRUCTION. — COMMON 
SCHOOL BRANCHES. 


ARITHMETIC. 

FOURTH CLASS. 

Fourth Grade Primary Schools — Course of 
Study. — “ Concrete numbers, counting with and 
without objects to fifty. Addition, subtraction, 
multiplication and division of numbers. No num- 
ber to be introduced greater than twenty. Notation 
of tens taught objectively. No exercises involving 
two or more different processes to be required.” 

Third Grade Primary Schools — Course of 
Study. — “Exercises, mental and written, in addi- 
tion, subtraction, multiplication and division of 
abstract and concrete numbers to eighty-one. No- 
tation and numeration of hundreds, tens and units, 
illustrated objectively. Roman numerals to L.” 

Method. — Let the children acquire a clear con- 
ception of number by presenting objects and having 
the children select the same number of similar 
objects, then the same number of various other 
kinds of objects. The objects then are to be 
numbered one, two, three, etc. Next is to be pre- 
sented the representative of number, or the use of 
the arithmetical character. 


36 


North- Eastern Ohio 


The pupil is to make tables of addition, subtrac- 
tion, multiplication, and division, with the use of 
objects; afterward abstractly as far as fifty. The 
notation and numeration of hundreds, tens and 
units was illustrated with the use of objects. In 
all this, habits of clear expression, of correct state- 
ment of concrete problems, and of making good 
figures, were insisted upon. 

THIRD CLASS. 

Second Grade Primary Schools — Course of 
Study . — “Addition and multiplication continued. 
Subtraction illustrated objectively. Exercises in 
subtraction, minuend not to exceed thousands. No- 
tation of simple proper fractions. Exercises in 
single-step reductions (descending) on such parts of 
tables as may be derived from object lessons. ” 

First Grade Primary Schools — Course of 
Study. — “Exercises in addition, subtraction, multi- 
plication and short division. Reductions to cor- 
respond to object lessons. Simple calculations of 
surfaces of rectangles, base and perpendicular height 
being given, and of the contents of parallelopiped- 
ons, dimensions not to exceed ten. Applications to 
reductions of fractions, and single-step reductions 
of compound numbers to correspond with object 
lessons. All concrete examples to be analyzed.” 

Method. — Review of the work of the first two 
grades. The elementary rules of written arithmetic. 
The pupils must now thoroughly learn the law of 


Teachers' Association. 


37 


increase and decrease by ten. For this, purpose 
they should be taught to read numbers as units, 
tens, or hundreds, etc. Thus 11111 might be read 
as “eleven thousand one hundred and eleven” units; 
as “one thousand one hundred and eleven tens and 
one over;” that is, “one-tenth of ten over;” as “one 
hundred and eleven hundreds and eleven over,” or 
“one ten and one unit over;” then by reduction it 
may be shown that the “one ten” is “one-tenth” of 
the one hundred, and the one unit one- hundredth 
of the hundred ; and, lastly, by reduction and addi- 
tion, that the eleven units make eleven hundredths 
of one hundred, etc. Show multiplication as a sub- 
stitute for several additions of the same number. 
The analysis of subtraction by reductions of the 
minuend to be illustrated by representing the hun- 
dreds, tens and units employed by the denomination 
of our money — dollar, dime and cent. Insist upon 
the analysis of every step in multiplication and 
division. Reduction of denominate numbers was 
presented as far as required by the Course of Study ; 
reduction of mixed numbers to improper fractions 
and of improper fractions to whole or mixed num- 
bers was presented by analysis ; also the computa- 
tion of areas of rectangular surfaces and the solidity 
of parallelopipedons. 

SECOND CLASS. 

Fourth Grade Grammar Schools — Course of 
Study . — “Long division. Principles of numbers. 
Federal money. Identity of this system of notation 


38 


North-Eastern Ohio 


with the decimal system. Reduction, addition and 
subtraction of compound numbers. Cancellation, 
cloth and beer measure to be omitted.’ ’ 

Third Grade Grammar Schools — Course of 
Study . — “Multiplication and division of compound 
numbers. The subject of factoring. Gr. C. D. and 
L. C. M. Development of fractions, terms, simple, 
proper and improper fractions; principles of frac- 
tions ; reduction to lowest terms ; compound to sim- 
ple; common denominator, addition, subtraction, 
multiplication, division and review of fractions of 
simple numbers.” 

Method . — In long division, the work of analysis 
commenced in the previous grade is to be continued, 
and the pupil led to name the denomination of each 
quotient figure before he determines the figure. 
The identity of the notation of Federal money with 
the system of decimal notation to be carefully illus- 
trated. In reduction where great vagueness usually 
prevails, extreme care must be taken to show that 
the multiplicand is not the number of the denomin- 
ation to be reduced; thus, in changing 7 bushels to 
lower denominations, 7 bu. is not the multiplicand — 
else the product would be bushels, and there would 
be no reduction; but the multiplicand is 4 pks., and 
these 4 pks. are multiplied by seven — the number 
of the denomination to be reduced. The product 
is 28 pks. — the same denomination as the mul- 
tiplicand, and in a denomination lower than first 
stated ; and so on, throughout the entire reduction. 
Thus, in reducing 3 bu. 2 pks. 2 qts. to pints, the 


Teachers' Association. 


39 


successive multiplicands are 4 pks., 8 qts., 2 pts.— 
and not 8 bu., 14 pks., 114 qts. The process is as 
follows : 

3 bu. 2 pks. 2 qts. to pints. 

(1.) 1 bu.=4 pks. 

3 bu.=4 pks. x 3=12 pks. 

12 pks. + 2 pks.=l4 pks. 

( 2 .) 1 pk. =8 qts. 

14 pks.=8 qts. x 14=112 qts. 

312 qts + 2 qts.=114 qts. 

( 3 .) 1 qt. =2 pts. 

114 qts.=2 pts. x 114=228 pts. 

3 bu. 2 pks. 2 qts. =228 pts. 

“ Multiply the highest denomination given by 
that number of the next lower which makes a unit 
of the higher,” etc., is not a correct rule for reduc- 
tion descending, as no reduction can take place by 
following it. 

It must be carefully pointed out, in finding the 
area of surfaces, that the area is not the product of 
linear units by linear units, but the product of a 
square unit taken a certain number of times ; thus, 
the area of a surface 4 ft. long and 3 ft. wide=12 
sq. ft., not found, however, by multiplying the 4 ft. 
of length by the 3 ft. of width, but as follows: 

1 ft. long, 1 ft. wide = 1 sq. ft. 

4 ft. long, 1 ft. wide = 1 sq. ft. x 4 = 4 sq. ft. 

4 ft. long, 3 ft. wide = 4 sq. ft. x 3 = 12 sq. ft. 

and so in finding the solidity of a regular solid. 


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'Xorlh-Easlern Ohio 


In the presentation of the whole subject, it is 
most earnestly recommended that addition and 
multiplication be taught first, and not reduction, 
so-called. The object is to enable the pupil to get 
familiar with the single-step reductions before 
writing them continuously for the reduction of a 
quantity from the highest to the lowest at one time. 

G. C. D. and L. C. M. are mainly treated by the 
factoring method. In fractions the finding of the L. 
C. D., and the unchanged value of the fraction, 
should be presented in the same analytical way that 
the preceding work was done. The same in the 
reduction of a compound fraction to a simple one, 
as being a problem to find what part of the whole 
a part of a part of it is. Multiplication of a fraction 
by a fraction was presented as a compound fraction; 
that of a whole number by a fraction as a division 
instead of a multiplication, and the only real case of 
multiplication of fractions to be when the fraction is 
multiplied , that is where the multiplier is an 
integer. 

FIRST CLASS. 

Second Grade Grammar Schools— Course of 
Study . — “ Decimals, simple and compound; their 
relations to common fractions to be kept in view. 
Ratio and proportion and aliquots; percentage to 
interest, with review of arithmetic as far as studied.’ ’ 

First Grade Grammar Schools — Course of 
Study. — u The whole subject completed and re- 
viewed, omitting permutation and alligation alter- 
nate.” \ 


Teachers' dissociation. 


41 


Method . — Time proved too limited for the amount 
of work to be done in these grades. The teacher 
could present only division of common and decimal 
fractions, the identity of process in the reduction of 
integral denominate numbers and that of common 
and decimal fractional numbers of the same denom- 
ination, the subject of percentage, as used in 
commission, insurance, etc., ratio, and single and 
compound proportions. To state how each of these 
subjects was treated would require more space 
than properly belongs to this report. 

OBJECTS. 

In Classes IV and III, the following topics were 
discussed : 

1. The general objects aimed at in all school 
work. 

2. The general principles of pedagogy which 
should underlie and control the methods employed 
in accomplishing those objects. 

3. The place and value of object lessons as one 
of the instrumentalities used. 

4. The kind of exercises to be given, and the 
proper subjects for lessons, in a course of object 
lessons adapted to the various grades of the Primary 
School. 

5. The manner of conducting lessons upon the 
subjects selected, in each grade, so as to secure the 
precise mental exercises adapted to that grade. 

The method pursued in these discussions, and 
also in those upon the subjects of Geography and 


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'North-Easter n Ohio 


United States History, was the following : A series 
of questions was proposed by the instructor, and 
answered by the class; the series being so arranged 
that the answer elicited to each question should 
become the basis of the next one proposed. Thus 
the class were engaged in independent thought upon 
each point, and thus, each principle laid down 
could not fail to receive the approval and support 
of all, since it was the product of their own mental 
action, brought to bear by the instructor’ s question, 
upon the point under consideration. 

In the work in “object lessons” with the teachers 
of Classes I and II, an effort was made to discuss 
plans of lessons for considering various subjects and 
various points in regard to different subjects. As 
the subject of “object lessons” had not previously 
been fully wrought out in the lower grades, the 
pupils under the charge of the teachers of the Gram- 
mar Schools were not able to begin with advanced 
work; hence, first, some of the more simple work 
was considered, as a few lessons of that character 
would have to be given in each grade. 

For this work, lessons in which children are 
called upon to discover and state the qualities and 
uses of objects, how the qualities are discovered, the 
dependence of qualities upon each other, and also of 
uses upon qualities, and lessons requiring compari- 
son of objects were presented, and the plans for 
giving such lessons discussed. Subjects appropriate 
for lessons of these kinds were also selected. 

Lessons upon the manufacture of objects were 


Teachers' Association. 


43 


considered in general, and lessons upon the manu- 
facture of leather and of paper were discussed in 
detail, both as regards the matter and the method. 
An effort was also made to show how lessons of this 
character could be used in all the grades, touching 
upon only the more simple processes and changes 
in the “ Fourth Grade” entering more and more 
into details as the higher grades are reached, 
especially requiring more reasoning out of results, 
as well as more detailed work in regard to the 
machinery used. Subjects for lessons of this char- 
acter were also selected. 

As “object lessons” are expected to include, not 
only lessons on the more common objects known as 
such , but also lessons on plants and animals, atten- 
tion was also given to them. Two or three lessons 
upon as many different animals, were presented and 
considered with regard to description of parts, dis- 
position, habits, including mode of life, food, and 
peculiar actions or traits and adaptation of structure 
to habits. Plans for giving such lessons were dis- 
cussed, both with reference to domestic and foreign 
animals. After this work was completed, a few 
lessons in which the pupils are led to classify 
animals according to characteristic features were 
presented, and also the method for giving such 
lessons. 

With reference to lessons upon plants, it was 
merely stated that the work in them is similar to 
that in lessons upon animals, both with regard to 
lessons upon the individual plants, and also those 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


including classification. (More could not be done 
on account of limited time.) 

In addition to considering all these lessons simply 
as ‘‘object lessons,” some time was spent in present- 
ing different plans that might be adopted, so that 
the matter wrought out in each lesson could serve 
as a basis for a composition exercise. 


LANGUAGE. 

FOURTH CLASS. 

Fourth Grade Primary — Course of Study . — 
“Attention to be paid to pronunciation, and the cor- 
rection of common errors in the use of language.” 

Method. — The work of this grade can, for the 
greater part, be only incidental, introduced in con- 
nection with class exercises in all subjects, at the 
hours of recitation. The teacher should take advant- 
age of any opportunity that offers to lead the 
children to notice, and if possible, to correct errors 
in pronunciation, use of words, or style of expres- 
sion ; also, to increase the children’s vocabulary, by 
giving new words after the children have gained the 
ideas these new words express. (This incidental 
work should be continued through all the grades.) 

Third Grade Primary — Course of Study . — 
“Putting words into sentences, discovering new 
words, with use of pictures, etc.” 

Lead children to form sentences from words with 
the use of which the pupils are familiar, as names of 


Teachers' Association. 


45 


things, words expressing qualities easily discovered, 
and those expressing actions of domestic animals. 
No effort was made to discuss how to teach the 
children the names of such words, but simply the 
combining of them to form sentences. The object , 
quality , or action should be presented, and by 
questioning, the children should be led to form 
statements in regard to it. Attention to be paid to 
the use of capitals and the period ; the method of 
teaching the use of these was here introduced. 
Lessons in which the pupils are called upon to 
describe pictures, thereby learning new words, and 
to state their description in sentences, were also 
discussed. 


THIRD CLASS. 

Second Grade Primary — Course of Study . — 
“Same as in Third Grade, with modifications to 
denote time, place, degree, etc.” 

Method. — Many exercises similar to those used 
in the Third Grade. Lessons requiring combina- 
tions of short elements, thus forming longer sen- 
tences, and the use of the comma and “and” in 
sentences like “ That flower is fresh, fragrant and 
beautiful .” Lessons requiring discrimination in 
the use of words, especially of those expressing 
qualities. Lessons leading pupils to form sen- 
tences with words, expressing time, place, degree 
and manner. Lessons in which statements must 
be enlarged by the children’s, adding words or 
phrases. 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


First Grade Primary — Course of Study. — 
“Name- words, action- words connected with the 
idea of past, present and future; the simple state- 
ment, with have, be, and other verbs ; quality- words ; 
the name- word modified ; quality- word modified ; 
number-word ; limiting- word ; action-word modi- 
fied to denote where, when, how and what.” 

Method. — The work of this grade consisted 
mainly of discussions regarding the teaching of 
the definitions of name- words, action-words, etc., 
and of their use in forming statements. The limits 
of this report exclude the lengthy details of these 
discussions. 

SECOND CLASS. 

Fourth Grade Grammar — Course of Study . — 
“Nouns — number, gender and classes of; verbs — 
number of; adjectives; adverbs. The element, a 
word ; the element compound ; conjunction — co- 
ordinate. The element, a group of words ; phrase ; 
proposition. Arrangement of words in the state- 
ment. Pronoun — person of ; case— nominative and 
objective ; of pronouns, with verb, with preposition, 
nominative and objective ; cases of nouns with verb 
and preposition. Copula with eleven forms of verb 
to be. Verbs — transitive and intransitive ; number 
and person of verb.” 

Third. Grade Primary — Course of Study . — 
“The word elements, principal and subordinate, 
subject, predicate; members of compound sentence; 
adjective element — a word ; classification and com- 
parison of adjectives ; possessive case of nouns and 


Teachers' Association. 


47 


pronouns. Adverbial element — a word ; classifica- 
tion and comparison of. The element, a phrase; 
the phrase, adjective and adverbial. The element, 
a modifying clause. Subordinate conjunctions ; com- 
plex sentences.” 

Method. — (a.) Teach one thing at a time, and 
that thoroughly. 

ip.) Illustrate everything the pupil is required 
to learn in any given lesson, when assigning that 
lesson. 

(c.) Teach the parts of speech in connection with 
the analysis of sentences. 

(d.) Teach thoroughly how to identify all the 
parts of speech before calling attention to any of 
their properties or modifications. 

(e.) Teach the classes into which the noun, verb, 
etc., are divided, as nouns into common and proper 
nouns, while teaching the parts of speech. 

(f.) Teach the properties or modifications of the 
parts of speech, one by one, and apply in parsing 
only those properties to which g the attention of the 
pupil has been called. 

( g .) Fix firmly in the mind of the pupil the fact 
that the use , and not the form of a word determines 
its classification. 


FIRST CLASS. 

Second Grade Grammar — Course of Study . — 
“Relative pronoun ; conjunctive adverbs; verb — 
tense and mode ; interrogative words. Review of 
* subject as far as studied. 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


First Grade Grammar — Course of Study . — 
4 ‘Abridged forms, apposition, phrases for clauses, 
participles, case absolute, interjections; complete 
analysis of sentences ; punctuation. Review.” 

Method . — (a.) In the analysis of sentences require 
the following order to be observed. 

1. Define the example as a sentence. 

2. Name its kind. 

3. Point out the subject. 

4. Point out the predicate and copula, 

5. Point out the modifiers of the subject and their modifiers. 

6. Point out the modifiers of the predicate and their modifiers, naming 
first the objective, secondly the adverbial modifiers. 

7. Always point out the modified term first, and then state that it is 

modified by “ ” etc. 

( b .) In the analysis of compound sentences point 
out the members in the order of their position, and 
then analyze each member as a simple or complex 
sentence. , 

(c.) In the analysis of complex sentences, point 
out first the principal and subordinate clauses, 
determine the use of the subordinate clauses as 
modifiers in the analysis of the principal clause, and 
then analyze the subordinate clauses. 

(i d .) In class instruction, whenever there may be 
difference of opinion as to the application of a mod- 
ifying word, phrase or clause, agree upon some 
meaning which the sentence may express, and then 
analyze. This being done, show the different mean- 
ings which may be given to it by a different appli- 
cation of the modifier or modifiers. 


Teachers' Association. 


49 


GEOGRAPHY. 

SECOND AND THIRD CLASSES. 

Primary and Grammar Grades . — “In Geogra- 
phy the attention of the teachers was directed to the 
most effective methods of treating those portions of 
the subject belonging to their grades. The object 
aimed at was to show how to create, on the part of 
the pupil, mental activity and interest in the study 
of this subject, and to impress permanently upon 
his memory the subject matter assigned for his 
study. 

“The teachers of First Grade Primary consid- 
ered, first , the method of conducting those exercises 
which prepare the young pupil for the intelligent 
study of a text-book suited to the higher of those 
grades ; second , they considered methods of con- 
ducting, in a primary class, the different kinds of 
exercises connected with the use of a text-book by 
the class. The object aimed at in the exercises 
suggested was to show the pupil how to study a 
text- book, and to secure to him a thorough and 
intelligent knowledge of the subject matter pre- 
sented by his author.” 


SINGING. 

FOURTH CLASS. 

D Primary — Method— At first the pupils imitate 
the teacher. They sing several sounds, as one, two 
and three of the major scale, or a few words to 


4 


50 


North-Eastern Ohio 


l 


different sounds. Continue this until they can sing 
any one sound they may hear, which is within the 
compass of their voices. All through the year little 
songs, good and pure, should be taught by rote. 
As soon as the entire school can sing in imitation of 
the teacher, let each pupil sing alone before the 
class. Make it a rule that whatever is done by the 
entire school should also be done by each pupil 
alone. Comparison of sounds; pupils must learn 
to distinguish between high and low, long and short, 
soft and loud sounds. Build up the scale ; introduce 
measure . During the year the first five sounds of 
the scale should be learned. Learning the scale 
means that each pupil can sing the sounds by sylla- 
ble, and can, on hearing a sound, tell immediately 
from which member of the scale it sprang. Staff, 
three lines. They should be able to read, by name 
or syllable, readily; one being represented by either 
line or space. Measures, parts and part of a meas- 
ure ; long and short sounds ; each pupil must sing 
these, when called upon, alone. Long and short 
notes and rests, and their uses. Beating time ; keep- 
ing any rate the teacher may give ; explanation of 
bars, etc. 

Teachers should learn to comprehend the use of 
music, and enter into the work heartily, and con- 
sider it as something that is essential. 

C Primary . — Review previous grade. Be cer- 
tain that the pupil understands measure, parts and 
part of a measure ; beating time ; difference between 
a beat and a part of a measure ; short and long 


Teachers' Association. 


51 


sounds ; accent ; a tempo ; scale ; principles of read- 
ing ; uses of notes ; rests and repeat-marks. 

New work : six of the scale ; tliree-part measure, 
longer sound, note and rest. Singing, imitating the 
teacher. Bear in mind that in every grade each 
pupil must be able to do the work of the grade. 

THIRD CLASS. 

B Primary. — Review of previous grade. Com- 
plete the scale. Four-part measure. Longest sound, 
note and rest ; practice the singing of two sounds at 
a time, preparatory to two-part songs. Imitation 
exercises. 

A Primary. — Names double, triple, and quadru- 
ple. Similar scale above and below, telling from 
usual signatures where one is represented. Writing 
notes as teacher sings, and dictation exercises. 

SECOND CLASS. 

D Grammar. — Sharp four and flat four. Classi- 
fication into properties and departments. Sextuple 
measure ; terms piano, mezzo ; and commence voice- 
cultivation theoretically. 

C Grammar. — Sharp six and flat seven ; shorter 
sound, note and rest. Names of notes, whole, half, 
etc. Classification of measures into primitive, deriv- 
ative and compound forms. 

FIRST CLASS. 

B Grammar— Dotted eighth note and rest. Com- 
mencing times with last half of a part of a measure. 


52 


‘Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


Names, major and minor scales, and general intervals, 
as seconds, thirds, etc. 

A Grammar. — Shortest sound ; sixteenth note 
and rest. Intervals of major and minor scales; 
finish chromatic scale; three-part exercises and 
practice. 


READING. 

FOURTH CLASS. 

D Grade Primary.— Position. The slanting 
straight line and spacing. The letters i, u, w, n, 
m, x, v, o, a, e, c, r, s, single and in combination. 
In the third term continue position and pen-holding ; 
add letters t, d, p, q, h, k, 1, b, j, y, g, z, f, single and 
combined. Review the former letters. 

C Grade Primary — Practice word and sentence 
writing. Begin capital letters; copy slip- writing 
with lead pencil. 

OTHER CLASSES. 

The use of the books of any series progressively 
illustrated and explained. 

In the latter portion of Class Fourth, and all 
through Class Third, give special attention to posi- 
tion , , pen-holding , slant , spacing , shape , forms and 
analysis , both of single letters and words ; in Classes 
Second and First, to movement or execution , and 
arrangement. The four steps in teaching writing 
are : to know, to execute , criticise and correct. In 
classes where sentence-books are used, explain first 


Teachers’ Association. 


53 


the copy carefully, then require the pupils to criti- 
cise their work on the following points : Length of 
line and space between words; then write a few 
lines and correct those faults. Next criticise space 
between letters; slant and distribution of shade. 
Take no more than two of these points in a lesson. 


READING. 

FOURTH CLASS. 

Methods. — Alphabetic, word, phonic, phonetic. 

The alphabetic commonly rejected in the best 
schools. The child learns to read by it because — 
First. In using it he is brought constantly to the 
inspection of words which are thus learned by form 
as in the word method ; Second. By constant use the 
powers of the letters are gradually perceived. The 
name of the letter useless ; illustrations. The word 
method extensively adopted ; objection to it ; the key 
to new words not mastered. The phonic method, in 
which the sounds of the letters are used instead of 
their names ; objection to this method in our lan- 
guage; various sounds to same letter. Th z phonetic 
method (Leigh’s), in which the letters are so varied 
in form that each character indicates its own power 
or influence in the pronunciation of the word. The 
last the best. Why \ W ould require a change of 
books, which is sometimes impossible. In such 
cases the word method and phonic recommended 
in combination. 


54 


'North-Easter n Ohio 


Phonic and Word Method , how used. — Printed 
or written words, from one to twenty, to be first 
introduced and learned. For the commencement, 
one is best. Pupils to be led to detect the sounds of 
the same by slow and distinct pronunciation. Atten- 
tion directed to the letters as indicating the sounds. 
These to be used as keys to the pronunciation of 
new words. Children to be familiarized by much 
practice with words thus made out (word method). 
Yarious exercises to facilitate this. The construc- 
tion of sentences involving the words to be learned. 
Daily exercise should be had in making out new 
words, that the pupil may acquire facility in the 
process. Never pronounce for a child a word 
which he can he led to pronounce for himself. 

Advantages. — The child discovers as much as 
possible for himself. Frequent analysis of words 
leads to frequent and careful exercises in articula- 
tion, which are peculiarly necessary in our country, 
populated as it is by people coming from every 
quarter of the globe. 

The use of a sentence instead of a single word 
suggested where teachers have been practiced in the 
phonic method. Pupils may be led to speak some 
simple sentence containing words easily analyzed. 
The one best adapted to use may then be selected 
and printed on the blackboard. This may then be 
read by the teacher, and the pupils practiced upon 
it, till they learn one word from another. By slow 
and distinct pronunciation, they may be led to ana- 
lyze the words of the sentence, one after another; 


Teachers' Association. 


55 


then have their attention directed, to the characters 
which indicate the sounds. This method requires 
more experience and skill than the other. It was 
also suggested that the script character might be 
used to the entire exclusion of the printed, for the 
first term or two. Some advantages pointed out. 

The use of the blackboard commended as more 
lively than the use of cards. Cards necessary as a 
stepping-stone to books. 

During the progress of this series of lessons, les- 
sons were given to teachers on the sounds of letters, 
phonic analysis, enunciation, articulation, etc. Les- 
sons as practical illustrations were given to children 
in the presence of teachers. Criticisms followed 
some of the lessons. 

Use of the Boole . — All the words used upon the 
first four or five pages of the Primer, or First 
Reader, should be thoroughly learned before the 
book is put into the hands of the children. Just 
before they open the book they should review all 
the words used in the first lesson. Then, opening 
the book, they should be encouraged to find out 
and tell what the first line says, and perhaps some 
be called upon to come and read it in a low voice 
to the teacher, so as to be unheard by the other 
pupils. Finally, they should be called upon, one 
by one, to read aloud. This is an interesting exer- 
cise, provided care be taken not to use the sentences 
of the reader in the previous blackboard exercises. 

Cautions . — No sentence upon the blackboard or 
in the book should be permitted to be read with 


56 


NorUi-Easlern Ohio 


careless pronunciation, or monotonously. Concert 
reading to be resorted to, but its faults to be care- 
fully guarded against. 

THIRD CLASS. 

The lessons in this class were devoted to methods 
for training children in distinct articulation. Four 
only were given. Stow’s Training system was 
explained, its usefulness demonstrated and its faults 
pointed out. 


HIGH SCHOOL BRANCHES. 

BOTANY. 

Recommended that, after learning the general 
structure and parts of plants, illustrating every 
point with living specimens, the remainder of the 
technical terms used in botanical descriptions should 
be left to be learned by use in the actual study of 
plants. The class should then be carefully trained 
in the thorough and systematic study of the charac- 
ters of plants, with the purpose of referring them 
to their proper place in the botanic system. The 
character of each plant should be completely 
worked out before any use should be made of the 
analytic key, and when by its aid the order has 
been found, its character should be written out on 
the blackboard and so completely mastered, by the 
aid of the first specimen examined, that any suc- 
ceeding specimens belonging to the same order may 


Teachers' Association. 


57 


be readily referred to it without the use of the key. 
A similar course should be pursued for genera, and 
if time permits, for species also. The object should 
be, not to learn the scientific names of a few plants, 
more or less, but a proper method of natural history 
study. The lessons were illustrated by careful 
analyses of several plants by the class, pursuing the 
method proposed. 


GEOLOGY. 

After familiarizing the class with the ten or twelve 
simple minerals which are the chief constituents of 
rocks, and the ordinal classification of the animals 
chiefly found fossil in the rocks, (a diagram of which 
was presented, with a column showing in what for- 
mations they first occur,) the study of the stratified 
rocks should be entered on, the class being required 
to produce from memory, on the blackboard, outline 
geological maps, and sections of the periods and 
formations, making use of those signs to indicate 
the kinds of rocks which are used by geologists. 
Care should be taken to make familiar the geological 
deposits of Ohio, and the order in which they occur, 
so far as is at present known. A few characteristic 
fossils of each period should be so carefully studied, 
with specimens, where possible, or with good figures, 
that the pupil may draw them from memory, in the 
class. The drawings of the pupil may not be very 
excellent as drawings, but they will secure a sharp 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


and definite impression of the characters of the 
remembered species, instead of those vague, form- 
less notions which are usually not more useless than 
tantalizing. Special pains should be taken to accus- 
tom the class to the geological modes of reasoning 
on the facts presented, and of interpreting the 
various geological phenomena, by reference to the 
present operation of existing causes. Such a study 
of a book like Dana’s Text-book should be accom- 
plished in about two school terms of fourteen weeks 
each. 


CHEMISTRY. 

The two lessons given were mainly confined to 
showing how a limited apparatus may be used with 
a few common materials in the continuous experi- 
ments which are needful for the most profitable 
pursuit of this study. It was recommended to 
make these experiments take largely the form of 
qualitative analysis, as developing most clearly a 
great number of characteristic properties, and look- 
ing most definitely to subsequent practical use, 
while familiarizing the pupils with many reactions, 
which should, in all cases, be written out. Atten- 
tion was also given to chemical problems, which 
were recommended to be much used, since they 
would familiarize the pupil with chemical equiva- 
lents and prepare him for the easy use of his 
knowlege in industrial pursuits. 

The lessons in Astronomy were limited to the 
explanation of some points which are difficult to 
make clear to a class. 


Teachers' rtssocialion. 


59 


TRIGONOMETRY. 

It was recommended that for ordinary High 
School instruction the study of trigonometry should 
be limited to plane trigonometry, all but the abso- 
lutely necessary analytical work being omitted; 
instruction in the fundamental principles to be 
wholly oral, the class being simply supplied with 
trigonometrical tables; every principle, as soon as 
learned, to be fixed by solving numerous original or 
selected examples, and if instruments can be had, 
the class should, by field work, be taught the appli- 
cations of trigonometry by as extended and varied 
series of measurements as are possible. 


LATIN. 

Recommended to be commenced with some intro- 
ductory book, but that no matter should be learned 
until it is needed for immediate use, and can be fixed 
by such use; that, to this end, in connection with 
the first lessons on nouns, the present tenses of a 
few verbs, like sum, do and Jiabeo , should be given 
orally, and the pupils practiced in using all their 
acquisitions as soon as made, in the construction of 
sentences ; and that the ordinary use of all the cases 
of nouns and pronouns should thus be successively 
taught orally while the pupils are learning the tables 
of inflections, the syntactical rules, in all cases, being 


60 


'NorOi-Easlern Ohio 


given in the language of the grammar which they 
will eventually use. 

Taught in this way, with large use of blackboard 
in the reproduction of tables of inflection, and in 
writing out and analyzing sentences, a class of thirty 
could easily master the introductory book through 
the first conjugation of verbs, in the long autumn 
term of our schools, and in the residue of the year 
could finish the remaining conjugations and irregu- 
lar verbs, and so much of the reader as is requisite 
to master the rules of syntax, with the exception, 
perhaps, of some of the more special rules for the 
use of the subjunctive. No rule should be memo- 
rized until the relation on which it is founded is 
made manifest. Every sentence should be carefully 
analyzed on the blackboard by the class. The struc- 
ture of the Latin sentence, (with the exception of the 
oratio obliqua ,) and the order of arrangement of 
words will then be made somewhat familiar, and 
the class will then have acquired some dexterity in 
unraveling Latin sentences. With the second year 
Csesar may be commenced, special attention being 
now paid to the use of the oratio obliqua , and to the 
completion of the subjunctive mood. The thorough 
analysis of sentences should be continued, with the 
use of the blackboard, in writing out inflections of 
nouns, adjectives and pronouns, synopsis of verbs, 
and translations of passages in reviews. It was 
recommended, each day to re-read for the class the 
lesson of the day, aiming, while making a faithful 
translation, to put it into the most elegant English 


Teachers * Association. 


61 


dress possible. Forty chapters of the First Book of 
Caesar’s Commentaries would be a full first term’s 
work, and during the remainder of the year, from 
four to six books could be finished. Cicero and 
Sallust should follow Caesar, a similar course in 
principle being pursued, though probably less full 
in detail ; and the study of Yirgil should be left for 
the fourth year, when the difficulties of the language 
being mainly mastered, the peculiarities of poetic 
diction would present fewer difficulties. 

It was also recommended, that from the beginning 
of the second year, weekly lessons should be given 
all the classes combined, in Homan history and 
antiquities. 


COMPOSITION. 

A system of composition was presented, intended 
for Class I and all the grades of the High School. 
It comprises compositions on inanimate and animate 
objects, events, narrations, themes historical and 
rational. 

Method.— (a.) The teacher must never assign 
objects or themes to his pupils, and require their 
compositions on the same, without the pupil’s first 
acquiring a. certain amount of knowledge on the 
subject he has to write on. The pupils should first 
recite on their subjects in the class. They should 
be required to post themselves by consulting books 
of reference at home., in the libraries of their friends, 


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'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


or in the public libraries ; and they should take such 
notes during the perusal as will enable them to recite, 
either with the notes before them or entirely from 
memory, as the teacher may wish, the outlines of 
their composition. The teacher is supposed to have 
general information enough to enable him to correct 
the pupil or supply additional data. Besides this 
solid preparation, this feature of the system has the 
unquestionable advantages, first , of introducing the 
pupil to good books, and of inducing him frequently 
to read more than at first intended ; secondly , of 
creating a demand for good books in many of the 
towns which at present enjoy but a limited supply, 
and may by this means see the necessity of increasing 
their stock of books. 

(5.) The pupils must receive additional help. 
The recitations must be preceded by a skillful divi- 
sion of the theme into general topics leading from 
the “known” to the “unknown,” and being illus- 
trated by the teacher. In all grades, reading of 
descriptions, essays, etc., of standard authors. 

Thus the pupil learns to cast his knowledge of 
his theme into proper forms ; he learns connection 
of isolated facts, classification of ideas, and the sepa- 
ration of things important from things unimportant. 

Unless the time given to each lesson be too short, 
and the class too large, no more than three pupils 
should be assigned the same subject at a time. 
This is to avoid sameness of style and monotony 
during the recitation and reading of the composi- 
tions. 


Teachers' Association. 


63 


An example may illustrate the method. It is a 
copy of a pupil’s notes on his subject—' “Moun- 
tains.” He is none of the brightest, and had, at 
the time, just entered the lower grade of our High 
School. 


“ MOUNTAINS.” 


Topics given by Teacher. 


Notes by the Pupil , on which he recited before 
writing his Composition 


1. Qualities, or impressions Great variety of mountains ; variety of colors: 

received. habitation of birds and quadrupeds; roar 

of winds and waters ; tower up to clouds. 

2. Extent; size; duration; All over the world, even below the sea; vari- 

kinds and parts. ous size — Andes, Himalaya, Alps, Rocky 

Mountains, hills, mounds, heights, eleva- 
tions, hillocks, ridge, peak, mountain- 
chain. 


3. Relation to surround- Upland, highland, cliffs, bluffs, capes, promon- 

ings. tories; difference between southern and 

northern slopes of Alps; between eastern 
and western of Rocky Mountains; moun- 
tains near cities; means of crossing. 

4. Similarity 'or- dissimi- Solid portions of earth, similar to the skeleton 

larity. in man ; sleeping giants ; Atlas. 


5. Origin or cause ; effects ; 
influence; pleasure; 
beauty; usefulness; 
valufe ; purpose ; ap- 
plication, etc. 


Unknown— source of brooks and rivers; they 
separate nations ; are means of defense ; 
influence climate ; pleasures of the chase ; 
tourists; beautiful scenery ; sunrise; min- 
erals, ores, wood, game, pastures, quarries, 
salt lakes. Invaluable; deified by heathen 
nations. 


This order of topics is for the highest Grammar 
and lowest High School grades. The difference in 
the compositions of these grades should lie in quan- 
tity rather than in quality. In the higher grades of 
the High School they are still valuable ; but the 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


disposition of the topics is different, the scope is 
wider. Thus : 

( Composition for A or B Grade , High Schools.) 
“MOUNTAINS.” 

1. Description of the pleasure and beauty in mountains ; upon what this is 

based. How Walter Scott describes mountains. 

2. Mountains as distinguished from elevated lands; examples; views of 

Humboldt, of Ritter and others ; geological remarks. 

3. State, explain and give reasons for, the various parts of mountains and 

mountain chains, mountain passes ; historical events : Greece, Swit- 
zerland, Tennessee, Virginia. 

4. Characteristic features of several mountains; causes. 

5. Comparison. The bones of the earth— why,; (chemistry) ; Atlas, (mythol- 

ogy) ; the Sanscrit Indians and others; what caused ancient nations 
to deify the mountains. 

6. Their influence upon climate, hence upon man; illustrate from history. 

The Scots and Swiss. Draw parallel between mountainous nations and 
others. Influence of mountains upon civilization, arts and litera- 
tuie; what style of music they develop— why; what kind of literary 
Productions— why. How do Homer, Shakspeare and Goethe speak 
of mountains (rhetoric) ; symbols. 

In a similar way, “ The Sword” may be treated 
in A and B Grammar and D High Schools, accord- 
ing to the five topics above ; but in the higher grades 
of the High Schools thus : 

“THE SWORD.” 

1. In the hand of the judge. 

2. In the hand of the defender of the country. 

3. In the hand of the tyrant. 

4. In the hand of the murderer. 

5. In the hand of the lunatic. 


Model topics were also given in biographies ; 
narrations, real and fictious ; abstract themes, his- 
torical and rational. Practical points regarding the 


Teachers' Association. 


65 


correction and execution of compositions were dis- 
cussed. To state all that was given might easily 
swell into a small volume. 


UNIVERSAL HISTORY 

Occupies but a term of sixteen weeks in the course 
of study. In most cases the time is still farther 
reduced, so that there may be said to be fifty- six 
lessons in all. 

Method . — Three methods were presented. First , 
the retrogressive method, according to which the 
teacher commences with the latest events of the day, 
and proceeds in ascending order to the earliest his- 
tory. Its advantage lies, first, in this, that the pupil 
becomes acquainted with the present state of affairs 
in the world, with the nations of his time and their 
leaders, all of which may permit him a better insight 
into the current events. Secondly , in this, that it is 
more in harmony with the principle “from the 
known to the unknown.” Its disadvantage is 
equally manifest. The occurences and transactions 
of the modern era are complex products of very 
intricate elements, most of which are beyond the 
grasp of the pupil. It must remain a hopeless task 
even for the most skillful teacher, unless, indeed, 
he be given about five times the present amount of 
time. 


5 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


Abandoning this, the second method, that of 
groups was illustrated. Commencing with the val- 
ley of the Nile, a few notions regarding the earliest 
Asiatic nations, together 'with a brief account of the 
state of Egyptian civilization, clustered around a 
few geographical details of this interesting valley. 
The next group might consist of the “Basin of the 
Mediterranean,” it forming a centre around which 
are crowded the events of nearly fifteen hundred 
years. After a geographical sketch, the brazen 
heroes of Greece and Rome, the sturdy Teutons, 
Huns and Goths, the fanatic Arabs and ambitious 
Popes, the lofty Othos and the stern Crusaders 
enter the arena. Next comes the “Basin of the 
Atlantic,” the French and English wars and the 
discovery of America. Lastly, the ‘ 4 Inland Group” 
may be spoken of, with Germany as the centre, 
with the reformation, the thirty years’ war, the 
seven years’ warfare, the revolt of the Nether- 
lands, the dismemberment of Poland, and the 
French revolution, the rise of Prussia and the 
losses of Austria. 

To follow this method the teacher must master 
his subject thoroughly, teach without a text-book, 
know how to cement periods separated by centuries, 
and lastly, combine fluency of speech with accuracy 
of expression. This method has the advantage — 
first, of giving, as it were, a bird’s-eye view of long 
series of nations, events and heroes, in apparent 
simultaneousness; secondly, of producing strong 
impressions, owing to the increase of associations 
produced, especially by means of geography as a 


Teachers' Association. 


67 


substratum. Its disadvantages—; first, the difficulty 
of obtaining correct views of the causes and their 
results; secondly , the danger of separating or of 
losing important links in the chain of historical 
events; and lastly , the undeniable scarcity of teach- 
ers who can impart so much well in so short a time. 

Until these difficulties can be overcome, the third 
method will be the more desirable, viz., the pro- 
gressive method. 

It commences with ancient history, for which 
youth is more impressionable, and descends in pro- 
gressive order to recent events. The fifty-six lessons 
were divided as follows : 


8 Lessons on Greece. -{ 


1 Ancient Nations. 

1 Geography— draw map of Greece. 
1 Legends. 

1 Persian Wars. 

1 Review. 

1 Athens— grandeur and decay. 

1 Alexander. 


I 1 Review. 

f 3 Geography and Legends, down to subjugation 
of Italy. 


11 Lessons on Rome. j 


2 Punic Wars— draw map. 

1 Caesar. 

1 Review. 

2 Golden Age— literature— draw map. 
1 Decline. 


L 1 Review. 

f 1 Migration of Nations. 


1 Mahomet and followers, to 732— character of 
Islam. 


12 Lessons to the Ref- 
ormation 


1 Review. 

1 Charlemagne— draw map after 843. 

3 Some of the German Emperors and Popes. 

1 Review. 

2 Crusades— cause and results. 

1 State of Europe at discovery of America. 

1 Review. 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


13 Lessons to French 
Revolution j 

I 


1 Bohemia— Monguls— 1 Turks. 

2 Reformation— causes. 

1 Review. 

1 General state of Europe— draw map. 
1 Netherlands. 

1 Review. 

3 Thirty Years’ War. 

1 Louis XIV— Peter the Great. 

1 Seven Years’ War. 

1 Review— draw map of Europe. 


10 Lessons to Water- 
loo 




1 French Revolution. 

1 State of Europe. 

1 Review. 

1 French Wars, 1793-98— Egypt. 

1 Review. 

2 French Wars, 1799 to 1804. 

2 French Wars, 1805 to 1815— map of Europe in 
1812. 


. 1 Review. 

2 Lessons on subsequent events. 


56 Lessons. 


A course of weekly lessons in history was also 
suggested, for the benefit of the First Grade of the 
Grammar School. It may be proved that some 
knowledge of history, however slender the amount 
may be, does not necessarily weaken the mental 
powers of the pupil ; nor is it demonstrable, as 
some maintain, that such knowledge fills the pupil 
with disgust for the whole subject. Supposing the 
number of lessons to be thirty-six, the following 
course was recommended : 

f 1 Ancient Nations. 

f 2 Geography and Legends. 

7 Lessons j 4 Greece " j 1 Persian Wars. 

{ 1 Art and Literature. 

| 1 Alexander. 

I 1 Review. 


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69 


6 Lessons 


7 Lessons. 


3 Lessons 


9 Lessons 


4 Lessons.. 

36 Lessons. 


j" 1 Rome — Geography and Legends. 

2 Punic Wars. 

-{ 1 Golden Age. 

| 1 Decline. 

I 1 Review. 

1 Migration of Nations. 

2 Mahomet and followers. 

. 1 Review. 

1 Charlemagne— (map 843.) 

| 1 German Empire and Popes. 

I 1 Review. 

( 2 Crusades, 
i 1 State of Europe. 

1 English Revolution. 

2 Reformation. 

1 Review. 

- 1 Louis XIV. 

2 Thirty Years’ War. 

1 Frederick the Great. 

1 Review. 

{ 1 French Revolution. 

2 Napoleon’s Wars. 

1 Review. 


NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 

There were but two lessons. Recommended— 
that but few of the so-called properties of matter be 
dwelt upon at any length ; that the laws of motion 
be practically demonstrated ; that the laws of grav- 
ity should be given with more care than our text- 
books do ( e . g ., the intensity of gravity, which 
changes inversely as the square of the distance, not 
gravity itself) ; and that the phenomena of falling 
bodies and pendulum be presented as direct effects 
of one common cause — gravity. Exception made, 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


perhaps, of optics, the inductive plan should be fol- 
lowed ; but not lose concentration in bringing up too 
many facts and experiments; a few, well selected 
and reasoned over, better than a diffuse variety. 
Have the class point out that which is common to 
all the facts and experiments presented, and also 
that in which they differ; from the former, proceed 
to the cause; from the latter, show the variety of 
effects that cause has. Give a sufficient number of 
problems in mechanics. Ho not require a multitude 
of showy apparatus ; accustom the pupil to use 
objects near at hand to experiment with, objects 
such as a pen, a pencil, India-rubber, a marble, a 
sling-shot, etc. ; require him to reproduce the draw- 
ings in the text-books. Take the class to machine 
shops to examine the hydraulic press and the steam 
engine ; to the telegraph office ; on board a vessel, if 
possible, to examine the capstan, pulley, compound 
lever, endless screw, etc. For reviews, prepare series 
of questions involving reasoning, such as “Why do 
we blow coffee to cool it, and our hands to warm 
them in winter V ’ There are moments, in the instruc- 
tion of a class, when even childish questions find a 
place : 4 ‘ How thick is the earth’ s centre ? The earth’ s 
axis? Which turns faster, a small wheel or a large 
one ? The earth moving eastward, does it take more 
powder to shoot eastward or westward ? Hoes a body 
weigh anything while falling ?” There are really but 
two modes of diffusing heat — Radiation and Conduc- 
tion, convection being but conduction in fluids ; the 
steam engine to be developed historically. Show 
that no force can be lost. Conservation of force. 


Teachers' Association. 


n 


A number of faulty definitions were examined, 
and a number of laws given. The time was too 
short, however, to develop more of method. 

In addition, there were a few lessons in United 
States History, Algebra and Geometry. 

The peculiar characteristics of the Institute con- 
sisted in the following points : 

1. Each class was assigned to its room, and kept 
it during the entire session. 

2. Classes of children were frequently taught in 
presence of the teachers. 

3. Each instructor was to base his instruction 
upon the Course of Study. 

4. Lectures on subjects, such as “The Teacher’s 
Work,” “Culture,” “Popular Education” and 
“The Teacher’s Ideal,” which not unfrequently 
usurp the most valuable time of institutes, were 
excluded from the regular session hours. 

5. Special care was taken that the entire instruc- 
tion should be carried on in a tangible, practical 
manner, so that the teachers attending might learn 
that which they most needed, and which is not 
usually contained in books ; and that, on returning 
to their labor, they might feel the confidence of 
knowing better how to teach than they did when 
they first came. 

Anything like a full account of the work done, 
either as to amount or method, would, at this day, 
be impossible; and were it not impossible, would be 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


too extensive for this place. Enough has been given 
to enable the earnest teacher, of limited experience, 
to derive much that must prove valuable. The great 
importance of correct method in teaching cannot be 
overestimated, since upon the method, of instruction 
depend, in large measure, the habits of thought and 
investigation of the pupil in after life. Hence the 
Association has always sought to make investiga- 
tions into “ Methods of Instruction ” prominent in 
the exercises provided for its meetings ; and hence 
also, in this Institute, method was the chief object. 

The action of the Association, at the close of the 
Institute, may be here given. At a meeting held in 
the Central High School hall, Sept. 9, 1870, the 
following was adopted by a unanimous vote : 


Whereas, The Normal Institute, under the 
auspices of the North-Eastern Ohio Teachers’ 
Association, just held in Cleveland, has been a 
complete success, and will, as we believe, result in 
much benefit to those in attendance ; and 

Whereas, This is mainly due to the efficient 
labors of the Committee of Arrangements and the 
able instructors provided by them ; therefore, 

Resolved , That the most hearty thanks of the 
members of the Institute are hereby given to the 
Committee ; to the instructors, for their able presen- 
tation of the several subjects assigned to them ; to 


Teachers' ylssocialion. 


73 


the Board of Education of Cleveland, for the use of 
the Central High School building; to the several 
boards of education which arranged for the attend- 
ance of their teachers. 

Resolved , That we earnestly recommend the Asso- 
ciation to provide for a similar institute to be held in 
Cleveland next year. 

For the purpose contemplated in the last resolu- 
tion, the following committee was appointed: R. W. 
Stevenson, Daniel Worley, I. M. Clemens. 

The numerous railroads meeting at Cleveland, 
thus affording an opportunity to attend the meet- 
ings and return the same day, have determined the 
Association to hold most of its meetings in that 
city. A number of meetings, however, by vote of 
the Association, have been held in other places. 
Twice it has met at Akron, once each at Ravenna, 
Alliance, Elyria, Warren and Oberlin. These out- 
side meetings were held in the several places named, 
on invitation of the superintendents and teachers of 
these cities. Such meetings have been among the 
most interesting and most profitable ones held The 
interest manifested in the proceedings by the citi- 
zens of these cities, the generous welcome extended, 
the large provision made for the comfort of mem- 
bers, have given the most ample assurance that the 


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Norlh-Easiern Ohio 


faithful teacher has, at all times, in the discharge of 
his duty, the confidence and the support of the 
community. 

There have been other advantages from these 
meetings. Teachers do not deny that the tend- 
ency of their work is, to some extent, calculated to 
isolate them, in thought and feeling, from the active 
business interests of the world. They admit, too, 
that in so far as this becomes true of them, a cer- 
tain valuable power is lost. At this meeting the 
members have had the pleasure of meeting active 
business men and of exchanging views with them — 
of learning from them. The business men have 
thus, for the time, become the teachers of the 
teachers. It is possible that it has been for the 
good of both parties. Then, too, it has been at 
these meetings that such treats as Dr. Bowen’s 
poem, “Crown the Teacher,” and President 
Fairchild’s most interesting and instructive ad- 
dress on “English Universities” have been 
enjoyed. 

At the meeting held at Warren, June 13, 1874, 
Superintendent E. F. Moulton, of Oberlin, read a 
paper (printed in this volume) on “Examinations 
and Promotions.” In the discussion of this paper 
it was charged that our system of examinations for 


Teachers' Association. 


75 


promotion is destructive of the physical constitu- 
tions of our children. It was asserted that the 
whole system is a hot-house, forcing process, ruin- 
ing health and failing to make scholars, and further 
it was claimed, that prominent physicians attributed 
the ill-health of many young people to pernicious 
hot-house cramming in our schools. 

A question of so great importance as the health 
of children might well challenge the most careful 
attention of a body organized for educational pur- 
poses — avowedly organized for the consideration of 
questions pertaining to the best interests of sound 
education. That our system of education is ruining 
the health of American youth is a charge familiar 
to all. It comes from parents, from physicians, and 
not unfrequently appears in our magazines and 
newspapers, and sometimes in our educational jour- 
nals. Teachers are perhaps too apt to charge the 
causes of ill-health back to causes antecedent to, or 
outside of school duties. 

That the whole subject might be brought before 
the Association well considered and carefully ar- 
ranged, President B. A. Hinsdale, of Hiram College, 
was made a special committee for that purpose. 

Accordingly at the meeting held Oct. 10, 1874, 
President Hinsdale read a very able paper (printed in 


76 


North-Eastern Ohio 


this volume) on the question, “Is the physical 
poioer of pupils in the public schools overtaxed by 
study f” 

President Hinsdale claimed that there have not 
been collected sufficient data to warrant any very 
definite answer to the question argued, and sug- 
gested that steps be taken to make an answer 
reasonably safe. In furtherance of this end, Hon. 
Thos. W. Harvey, Andr. J. ftickoff and Hr. S. G-. 
Williams were appointed a special committee for 
such purpose. 

A circular letter was prepared and sent by this 
committee to physicians, asking whether it was 
their opinion that children are overtaxed in school, 
and whether the ill-health of so large a number of 
young persons is properly chargeable to a demand 
for excessive study imposed by teachers or school 
officers. The answers received were numerous, and 
mostly giving it as the conviction that there was 
ground for the charge. The answers received fur- 
nished no reasons for the judgment arrived at — left 
the committee in ignorance of the case or cases fur- 
nishing the data for the physician’s judgment. A 
more carefully prepared circular was then sent out. 
It was felt that if the questions in this should be 
properly answered, the responsibility for school 


Teachers' Association. 


77 


conditions might be, in great measure, classified: 
whether to boards of education, or to teachers; or 
whether the responsibility for ill-health must not, in 
great measure, be charged to parents and guardians, 
for permitting injurious excesses within their con- 
trol and beyond the control of school authorities. 
The questions contained in this circular have not 
yet been answered, i. e., the Association has not 
yet received, through its committeee, answers to 
them. Indeed only one or two replies have been 
received, although the circular was sent to more 
than a hundred physicians. It cannot be that 
physicians have not sufficient interest in the phys- 
ical health of our children and youth to make 
answer to the questions addressed to them. The 
circular is as follows: 

The undersigned, having been appointed by the 
North-Eastern Ohio Teachers’ Association a com- 
mittee to investigate the causes of the alleged ill- 
health of school children, would heartily solicit 
your co-operation in making such investigation full 
and definite, and would respectfully request from 
you answers to the following questions : 

1. Has any case come under your professional notice in 
which injury has resulted to pupils of schools from too close 
application to study, or from circumstances connected with 
the school room ? 


78 


North-Eastern Ohio 


2. If so, will you have the goodness to give in full the 
name and age of the person, with the school attended, and 
the name and address of the parent or guardian, as also that 
of the superintendent or principal. 

3. Will you describe the case and its results. 

4. Was there in this case any hereditary predisposition 
to disease? 

5. Were there any influences connected with the habit- 
ation, diet or mode of life of the patient’s family that would 
be likely to dispose him to disease? 

6. Had improper or insufficient clothing, in your opinion, 
anything to do with the incipient stages of the disease ? 

7. Was this person in the habit of reading sensational 
or other novels, and to what extent, if any, might his state 
be attributable to this class of reading? 

8. Did the patient spend much time in society out of 
school ? 

9. What amount of study out of school was required of 
the pupil, and how much, in your judgment, might safely 
have been required of him ? 

10. To what extent might the patient’s symptoms be 
attributable to ill-ventilation of the school room ? 

11. To what extent were they due to improper form and 
dimensions of the seat and desk occupied by the child in 
school ? 

12. If the patient was a girl at the age of puberty, how 
far was the disease attributable to, or were the symptoms 
aggravated by too severe mental strain, or by improper 
confinement in the school during the catamenial period? 

13. Had any marked attentiou been given by the parents 
to the physical education of the child ? 

14. If there were other circumstances connected with 
the case which you think would aid us in this investigation 


Teachers' Association. 


79 


into the health of school children, will you do us the favor 
to mention them. 

Please to address your reply to S. G-. Williams, 
428 Case avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. 

THOS. HARVEY, 

ANDREW J. RICKOFF, 

S. G. WILLIAMS, 

Committee. 

The Association has been organized over six 
years, and has failed of but one meeting in all 
that time. Its discussions have all been interest- 
ing, the papers read have been profitable, and the 
class exercises models of good teaching. 

It is gratifying to feel that the work of the 
teacher has been placed in a light commanding 
the esteem of the community, in greater measure 
through its agency ; that those who have attended 
its meetings have been greatly strengthened .for 
duty thereby; that a feeling of kind solicitude for 
one another’s prosperity has always characterized 
the personal relations of the members; that no 
wrangling or selfish ambition has ever stepped in 
to mar the harmony of the proceedings ; and that 
the prospect for continued prosperity and useful- 
ness of the organization is greater than at any 
previous time. 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


Under wise guidance and a continuance of the 
spirit animating the present members of the organ- 
ization, the amount of good that may be done by 
the Association in the years that are to come cannot 
fail to be very great. It was hardly expected by 
the most hopeful of these who organized the Associ- 
ation, that it would accomplish anything like what 
it has already done. The importance of such organ- 
izations must increase as we near the time when 
“men shall beat their swords into plow-shares and 
their spears into pruning-hooks.” May the Asso- 
ciation go forward in its great work, through all 
the years of our beloved country’s second century 
of existence, undisturbed by foreign or domestic 
strife. 

The following is a complete list of the officers 
elected after the first year: 

For 1871. Elected January Ilf, 1871. 

President — Tuos. W. Harvey, Painesville. 

Vice-President — S. Fixdley, Akron. 

Secretary — Miss Corxelia H. Sauxders, Cleveland. 

Treasurer — C. S. Bragg, Cleveland. 

Executive Committee — A. J. Rickoff, Cleveland; S. G-. 
Barxard, Medina; S. G-. Williams, Cleveland. 


Teachers' Association. 


81 


For 1872. Elected December 11, 1871. 

* 

President — Hon. Thos. W. Haryey, Painesyille. 
Vice-President — Judge S. G. Barnard, Ravenna. 
Secretary — Alex. Forbes, Cleveland. 

Treasurer — L. W. Day, Cleveland. 

Executive Committee — 8. Findley, Akron; A. J. 
Rickoef, Cleveland; G-. H. Carruthers, Elyria. 

For 1873. Elected December Ilf, 1872. 

President — Hon. Thos. W. Haryey, Painesville. 
Vice-President — Mrs. H. A. Stone, Akron. 

Secretary — Alex. Forbes, Cleveland. 

Treasurer — L. W. Day, Cleveland. 

Executive Committee — R. McMillan, Youngstown ; 
Kate E. Stephan, Cleveland ; I. M. Clemens, Ashtabula. 

For 187 If. Elected December 13, 1873. 

President — Hon. Thos. W. Haryey, Painesville. 
Vice-President — Miss M. Parsons, Akron. 

Secretary — L. W. Day, Cleveland. 

Treasurer — W. R. Wean, Wellington. 

Executive Committee — E. F. Moulton, Oberlin; E. E. 
Spaulding, Painesville; Harriet L. Keeler, Cleveland. 

For 1875. Elected December 12, 187 If. 

President — I. M. Clemens, Wooster. 

Vice-President — Harriet L. Keeler, Cleveland. 
Secretary — C. L. Hotze, Cleveland. 

Treasurer — S. Findley, Akron. 

Executive Committee— H. M. Parker, Elyria; E. F. 
Moulton, Oberlin ; G. T. McAlmont, Madison, 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


For 1876 . Elected December 11 , 1875 . 

President — H. M. Parker, Elyria. 

Vice-President — Miss P. H. Goodwin, Akron. 

Secretary — L. L. Campbell, Mineral Ridge. 

Treasurer — J. F. Lukens, Wooster. 

Executive Committee — Alex. Forbes, Cleveland; A. J. 
Michael, Monroeville; J. F. Wilson, Ashtabula. 


ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES. 


INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THOS. W. HARVEY. 

[It is to be regretted that the manuscript of this valuable address 
has been lost. A brief synopsis may indicate the more important 
topics presented. — Ed.] 

Having thanked the Association for the honor 
conferred on him, he alluded briefly to the advant- 
ages of combined action on the part of teachers and 
friends of educational progress. Responsibilities 
have been assumed by the profession; the public, 
our patrons, insist upon a faithful performance of 
duties; let us all engage earnestly in any work 
thought best to be undertaken. Differences in 
opinion exist among us, and no one claims to be 
free from whims and prejudices; but by taking 
counsel together our views may be made to har- 
monize, and by working together we shall learn to 
be tolerant and charitable. 

The schools of to-day were compared with those 
of twenty years ago.. The means and agencies then 


84 


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deemed sufficient for their conduct and efficiency 
are now known and acknowledged to be inade- 
quate. But while the schools in our towns and 
cities have made marked progress, and now rank 
high among the best of their kind in the Union, 
those in the rural districts have not improved as 
they might have done. In some localities, no pro- 
gress whatever has been made. 

The reasons for this state of affairs are apparent. 
Our towns and cities have been increasing rapidly 
in wealth and population. In the establishment and 
organization of schools they have not been ham- 
pered by precedents to be overruled, or hindered 
by ill-advised, half-finished work to be re-modeled 
or thrown aside. They have also employed super- 
vision, that essential element of success, in their 
management. In the country, changes in indus- 
trial pursuits have been attended by a decrease in 
the number of pupils attending the schools; no 
determined effort has been made to consolidate sub- 
districts; the money expended in many of these 
sub-districts has not been sufficient to sustain good 
schools the required length of time each year ; the 
machinery for the management of school affairs has 
been cumbrous and unwieldy ; and the schools have 
been practically without supervision. Efforts should 


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be made to remedy these defects. Unless they are 
remedied we may look in vain for any encouraging 
signs of progress. One important item of work for 
this Association, is the discussion of ways and means 
whereby the “people’s college” can be made what 
it should be. 

The classification of our graded schools and the 
courses of study pursued in them demand imme- 
diate revision. They differ so essentially, that 
whenever a pupil removes from one town or city 
to another, the determination of the grade to which 
he belongs is a difficult task. There is no good 
reason why uniformity, or a near approximation 
thereto, cannot be secured, both in classification 
and courses of study. The advantages of such a 
uniformity cannot easily be overestimated. A pupil 
ought to be enabled to continue his studies without 
discouraging interruptions and hindrances, where- 
ever he may be ; and a statement, made by compe- 
tent authority, that he has completed the studies of 
any grade and is prepared for promotion to the 
next, should be a “legal tender” throughout the 
State. Let this Association take the initiative, 
grapple with this problem and solve it. 

During the past few years our attention has been 
called to new methods of teaching. It is desirable 


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that these methods should be more extensively 
known than they are, and that those which can 
be demonstrated to be improvements should be 
more generally adopted. The discussion of the 
philosophy which underlies them and exhibitions 
of the proficiency of classes taught by teachers 
trained in their use, will undoubtedly be interest- 
ing features in our proceedings. 

Allusion was made to the attempt to prohibit the 
reading of the Bible in the public schools. The 
teaching of the peculiar dogmas of any religious 
sect or denomination in the public schools is wisely 
prohibited. A conscientious teacher, however, be- 
lieves that permission to read the Bible is not 
simply a courtesy to be granted, but, under proper 
restrictions, a right to be demanded, whenever he 
desires to use its teachings in moral culture. Bible 
reading in the schools need not make them secta- 
rian or denominational. It has not done so in the 
past, as every intelligent teacher well knows — why 
should we fear that it will do so in the future ? 

In conclusion, unselfish devotion to the duties of 
his calling was urged as a debt each teacher owes 
to the profession. The true teacher is a faithful, 
untiring worker, not a dreamer or an impractica- 
ble theorizer. In his school he labors diligently 


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to educate and instruct the youth intrusted to his 
care; out of school he is a missionary among his 
patrons, giving direction to thought and rousing 
the apathetic to action. 


CROWN THE TEACHER. 
A STOBY OF OLYMPUS. 


BY W. BOWEN, M. D., AKRON. 

When Ceres watched the growing grain, 
And fed it light and bro’t it rain; 

And as the season onward rolled 
Aye tipt its ripening ears with gold, 
And brought the harvest on apace, 

And blest it with abundant grace. 

Then, too, the peach and apple’s blush 
Were tints from good Pomona’s brush. 
’Twas her’s the orchard’s life to sway — 
To keep the canker-worm away, 

To bar the approaches of the blight, 
And temper frosts that else would bite 
The fruit-tree’s bloom, and thus destroy 
The husbandman’s expected joy. 

Each blossom that in beauty stood 
And shed its perfume in the wood, 

Or decked the mead or gay parterre, 

To Flora turned for guardian care ; 

Nor turned in vain, for she would bless 


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The queenly rose, nor yet the less 
Extend her kindly aid, I wot, 

To the daisy or forget-me-not. 

’Twas then (but ’tis not very clear 
As to the day or month or year) 

The gods turned out, the legend says, 

As folks do now on gala days. 

There Juno’s peacocks drew her car; 

Mars flashed his sword and wore a star. 
Chaste Dian came in bloomers — then 
The gods ne’er laughed like foolish men, 
For made remarks, nor stood to stare 
At gown a goddess chose to wear. 

Venus appeared; around her zone 
The love-compelling girdle shone, 

That witching band, by Juno tried 
To win her husband to her side 
When Io or Europa smiled, 

And from her love her lord beguiled; 

But much it grieves the muse to tell 
The rake was proof against 'the spell. 
Bellona came; helmet and shield 
Gleamed bright as when on Ilion’s field 
The Trojan ranks met sore dismay 
If she were with the Greeks that day. 

Iris came too ; each gorgeous dye 

That gemmed her bow that span’d the sky, 

When prisms sprung from light and storm 

Shone in the robe that wrapt her form. 

Others of lesser note came out 

From court and camp, a sky-born rout. 

What passing wonder, then, 

That set the gods agog like men ? 


Teachers' Association. 


’Twas not that Mars had on his hand 
A town to sack, or waste a land ; 

But Joye had joy, and in his mind 
Grew deeper love for human kind; 

For sure ’tis no uncommon thing 
That generous acts from gladness spring. 
He looked below, and o’er the earth 
Saw wrong stalk forth, of monster birth — 
The seraph out, the demon in, 

And all man’s nature stained with sin. 
Here falsehood ruled, there hate and strife 
Ban’d the brief span of human life. 

The grieved Astrea fled away — 

Host strove ’gainst host in fierce array; 
The neck of nations bent to feel 
The iron of the oppressor’s heel ; 

And desecrated shrine and fane 
Confessed the day of Moloch’s reign. 

Yet ’midst this darkness of the soul 
That spread from tropic to the pole, 

Kose here and there a dauntless few, 

Who battled for the good and true, 

And strove by deed or spoken word, 

Or pen, far mightier than the sword 
To chase that moral night away 
And usher in a glorious day. 

To these Jove gave his high regard, 

And fain would grant them meet reward. 
The wish was father to the deed — 

He bade light-footed Hermes speed 
To every land of every sea, 

Where’er those toilers’ homes might be, 
And bid them to his court repair, 


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For hearing and right judgment there; 

And he who, more than all the rest, 

Has served his fellow man the best 
Shall there be crowned by sacred hands, 

The chief of all earth’s hero bands. 

Then forth from orient climes, where grow 
The stately palms; from lands of snow, 

Where the dark pine tree’s branches sigh 
To winter winds that wander by; 

And from the south, and the broad west, 
Where sinks the day to take his rest, 

Each candidate expectant came, 

And in brief speech prefer’d his claim. 

The Warrior said: “My armor’s sheen 
On fields of blood has oft been seen; 

Oft I was foremost in the strife, 

Where ebbing fast were streams of life; 

For I had raised my good right arm 
Between my country’s life and harm. 

He who is first to draw his blade 
When foes his country’s soil invade, 

Or battles for a land oppressed, . 

Must surely serve his fellow best. 

The hero holds high place among 
The great, whose deeds our bards have sung.” 
The Priest arose — in solemn tone 
He claimed the guerdon as his own. 

“’Tis mine,” he said, “where altars rise 
To guard the rite of sacrifice. 

I taught old Egypt’s race to bow 
To Apis and the sacred cow; 

I bade the Northmen, armed for war, 
Propitiate the mighty Thor. 


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And if the harvests suffered blights, 

At Ceres’ fane performed her rites, 

So she would send the needed rain, 

Nor blast the growing crops again.” 

The Bard stood forth. “ ’Tis mine,” he said, 
“ To touch the heart, to teach the head. 

Oft as I swept the epic lyre 
Warm glowed the breast with patriot fire, 
Till every one that listening stood 
Became a hero in his mood. 

When Priam’s graceless scion bore 
Frail Helen from her throne and shore, 

And Greece pursued the scapegrace boy 
Back to the frowning walls of Troy, 

And ten long years of bootless strife 
Were waged for the fair, faithless wife, 

Our hero’s deeds had found no tongue 
Had not the bard of Scio sung. 

The glory Grecian valor won 
At Salamis or Marathon, 

Had faded with the passing time 
But for the epic’s stately rhyme.” 

The Painter boasted of his art, 

So like divine that life would start 
Beneath his touch, till face and form 
Glowed on his canvas soft and warm, 

As if his pencil gave them breath 
And he had triumphed over death ; 

And he could catch and show anew 
The fitful north-light’s changing hue, 

Or seize the sunset’s golden dyes, 

Or morning’s tints in eastern skies, 

And blend them in one radiant whole, 


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And pour their glories on the soul. 

The Orator made large pretense, 

And vaunted much his eloquence. 

“He makes,” he said, “his land rejoice 
Who for it lifts his patriot voice, 

And wakes and warns the slumbering State 
When dangers lower or evils wait. 

Ho power so much men’s souls has stir’d, 

As the impassioned spoken word 
That breaks (when noble themes inspire) 
From tongues of flame or lips of fire.” 

He ceased, and the mute listeners deemed 
The contest o’er, and so it seemed ; 

When all unheralded by fame, 

And half abashed, the Teacher came, 

And modestly preferred his claim. 

He looked not stern, for he was made 
Hot to command but to persuade ; 

A gentle nature you might trace 
In every line that marked his face — 

A face in which a child might see 
He kept large play-ground on his knee. 

His brow was broad and high; his hair, 

That in his younger day was fair, 

Though age came not, nor health’s decay, 
Was now grown thin and streaked with gray. 
In speech, deportment and in mien 
Life’s nice proprieties were seen ; 

He seem’d a model man, in sooth — 

A fitting friend and guide for youth. 

“’Tis not for us,” he said, “oh, sire! 

To flout at claims of sword or lyre, 

Or priestly office, or the art 


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The painter boasts — nor yet the part 
That stirring eloquence must play 
When soul and sense confess its sway. 

We mock not these, for well we know 
The power they exercise below ; 

But they who wield these wondrous powers, 
In school-hoy days were charge of ours. 

We trained the arm that wields the sword; 
We taught the hand that sweeps the chord 
And wakes its music — simple lays 
Of noble deeds of other days, 

We taught the bardling how to sing, 

That his young muse might try her wing, 
Till by such tasks he grew apace 
In all a poet’s strength and grace. 

So we to reverence turned the heart 
Of him who labored to impart 
The sacred mysteries of the shrine, 

(High functions of the priestly line.) 

Painter and orator no less 

Our early guiding hand confess. 

For ’tis the Teacher’s task to take 
The life yet young — to form and make 
It beautiful and pure, ere time 
Shall bring it sin, or taint of crime. 

What fame the warrior wins in arms, 
Howe’er the bard instructs or charms, 
Whatever of good the priest pursues, 

What orator or painter does, 

With voice, or pencil’s wizard powers, 

Is grand achievement, yet, of ours — 

They were our pupils.” Ceased he then, 
When rose a shout from gods and men : 


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“ Crown the Teacher ! Crown him now 
With wreath for an immortal’s brow. 
Crown the Teacher! he hath skill 
To mold aright the heart and will; 

To shape the ‘ Future Man ’ — to be 
Earth’s arbiter of destiny. 

Crown him ! He of all the rest 
Has served his fellow man the best.” 


HOW TO PRESERVE THE EYES. 

BY A. METZ, M. D., MASSILLION. 

Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen : 

It is through our senses that we gain all our 
knowledge of the material universe. To keep in 
good condition these channels of communication 
between the outer world and the brain or mind, is 
acknowledged by all to be of highest importance. 
Without the senses man would be a mere vegetative 
organism. Without vision life is so maimed and 
dreary as to be scarcely desirable. The more acute 
the senses, the greater is the capacity for happiness 
and intellectual enjoyment. The great Graefe said 
that whilst many have tried to portray the horrors 
of blindness, and poets have written on the subject, 


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only one person can know the unfathomable depth 
of despair it causes, and that is the man who once 
enjoyed good sight but now is blind. Yet this 
wonderful organ of vision is more abused than any 
other organ in the body, being overtasked day and 
night. 

I shall not spend time on the "reckless sinners, 
who sin against knowledge, and who only need 
moral remedies, but pass on to that class of sin- 
ners who sin for want of knowledge, and need 
scientific truth for their guidance ; and it is in 
behalf of this innocent class of sufferers that I 
have presumed to appear before you, to make an 
appeal to you — to try to enlist your sympathy and 
exertions in the effort to do a great benevolent 
work. No class of community can work so effec- 
tually as you can in this direction. The teachers 
are more intelligent and observe more closely than 
the average of parents; and it is my acquaintance 
with the fact of your intelligence, your zeal for all 
that concerns the welfare of the children under 
your training, during the most important period of 
their physical and mental development, that has 
made me bold enough to appear before you to-day. 
During the twelve thousand hours that the average 
of children are under your care during attendance 


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in our union schools, you can do much toward 
imparting useful information tending to the pres- 
ervation of this important sense — this “window of 
the soul,” and exert your influence in various 
ways : 

1. By seeing that the scholars are well supplied 
with good light from the proper direction. 

2. That the print of the school books is distinct, 
and not too small. 

3. That the posture of the pupils is correct, and 
that the seats and desks are graded according to 
size and age. 

4. By noticing defects in sight in children, and 
calling the attention of parents to the fact, and 
urging the importance of an investigation into the 
character of the defect, so that faults in the refract- 
ive power of the eyes shall not lead to great suffering 
and irreparable injury to the organ of vision. 

I. Light is the essential excitant of the retina, 
and in a certain sense is its nutrition. Without light 
the retina will atrophy like a muscle not exercised. 
The best — the natural light is the white daylight. 
In a certain time not too much nor too little light is 
required for the healthy action of the eye. Too 
much light causes dazzling, with more or less pain 
and dimness of vision. The sudden change from 


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darkness to liglit is injurious and causes pain. 
The function of vision is brought about by the 
destruction of retinal cells. These cells are rapidly 
replaced from the blood by the nutritive process. 
When the transition from darkness and rest into 
too strong a light is too sudden, the disintegration 
of retinal cells is too rapid, the nutritive process not 
having time to neutralize the destruction by repair, 
and the retina suffers. By looking at the sun, 
persons have so injured the retina that perfect 
repair has never taken place and a permanent 
dark spot remains in the field of vision. 

Too long continued exposure to a bright light 
will either blunt the retina, or else it will cause a 
morbid sensitiveness, so that ordinary daylight can- 
not be tolerated. But the dangers arising from 
working long in relative want of light are more 
insidious and often overlooked. This will bring 
about slowly, but surely, a morbid sensitiveness of 
the retina. Many school rooms are poorly lighted ; 
it is not true to-day to the extent it was some years 
ago. Dark curtains and closed shutters are to be 
condemned, both in school rooms and private houses. 

An unsteady light is injurious, as, for instance, 
the coal gas in common use, which gives a tremu- 
lous light, caused by its mixture with atmospheric 


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air and vapors of water, (Manz, Lectures on the 
Hygiene of the Eye,) hence in reading or writing 
a long time in such a light a shade should be used. 

The school houses should stand clear from other 
houses, and from all obstructions to light. The 
windows ought to be in the south or east. The best 
direction for light is from the pupil’ s left side, so as 
not to cast a shadow on the page from the hand and 
pen when writing. The next best direction for light 
is from the back, so as to light up the page, and 
have the rays of light directly reflected to the eye. 
We must remember that light is an activity — a 
mode of motion that travels rapidly in straight lines 
in oscillatory waves. Hence, we must avoid rays of 
light from opposite directions. It has been demon- 
strated that two brilliant pencils of rays coming 
from opposite directions, concentrated on a curtain, 
neutralize each other, and a dark spot is seen where 
the opposing rays meet. Dr. Cohn, of Germany, 
who is an authority on this subject, estimates that 
each window should be one hundred inches high 
and sixty inches wide, and that there ought to be 
one such window for every twenty pupils, so that 
each one will have three hundred square inches of 
glass. The walls of the room should be white, and 
also the blinds or shades to the windows ought to be 


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of the same color. The least objectional deviation 
from pure white is a light grey color. 

If, from the above enumerated abuses, or from 
others that will be considered, the retina — the 
impressible nerve membrane — should become con- 
gested, become hypersesthetic or over sensitive, so 
that daylight cannot be tolerated without pain and 
detriment to the eye, then we must modify the light 
until recovery can take place, just as food has to be 
modified to the degree of tolerance of the irritable 
stomach. 

From time immemorial — beyond the time of 
Plinius — green was used to protect the irritable 
retina, and even now we see many persons wearing 
green spectacles. Since Bohm wrote on the good 
effects of blue colored glasses, in 1858, blue has been 
extensively used for protection against strong light. 
More recently those colors are abandoned for the 
purpose above named by ophthalmologists. Blue is 
now used rarely, and then only to arouse retinal 
activity in atony, or in partial atrophy of the retina. 
Manz has truly said that the use of the solar 
spectrum proves that the maxima of intensity of 
illumination and power of impressing the retina do 
not fall together ; but he, perhaps, is in error when 
he says that the greatest strength of light is in the 


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red end of the spectrum, whilst the point that 
impresses the retina most strongly is to be found in 
the yellow part. 

It is true that rays of weaker refraction, as yellow 
and red, make a strong impression on the retina by 
their brilliancy and vividness, but in their charac- 
teristics as colors their impression on the retina 
is comparatively feeble. On the other hand, the 
rays more powerfully refracted, as blue and violet, 
as colors, impress the retina powerfully, but in 
vividness feebly. In their characteristics as colors 
the impression on the retina increases gradually 
from the extreme red, with its four hundred and 
fifty-eight trillion waves per second, to the extreme 
violet, with its seven hundred and twenty-seven 
trillion waves per second. Tyndal asserts that 
color is dependent on vibration of rays, red being 
produced by waves that undulate a third less 
rapidly than those which produce the sensation of 
violet. This proves that green and blue are unfit 
for protection of the irritable retina from strong 
light. 

Without entering further into the subject of 
colored light, I will merely say that authorities now 
agree that grey or smoke colored glass is the proper 
protection from too strong light, which simply 


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excludes quantitative light, and excludes all colors 
equally. The lightest tinge that will sufficiently 
protect should be selected, and worn no longer than 
necessity demands. 

II. Print. — In order to save the straining of the 
accommodation of the eye, the type ought to be 
large enough and the letters black enough and clear. 
It is estimated by Snellen that the smallest sized 
letter that the normal eye can readily perceive at 
the distance of a foot, is one of an angle of five min- 
utes. His test types are so arranged that the letters 
are always seen at that angle. No. 1 can be read at 
the distance of one foot, No. 2 at two feet, No. 20 at 
twenty feet, and so on, the letters always being seen 
at an angle of five minutes. Text-books ought not 
to have type smaller than Snellen’s No. 3, which can 
be seen readily at the distance of three feet. There 
seems to be an improvement in the clearness and 
size of letters of recent school-books. 

III. Seats. — Every cause that tends to keep the 
eye engorged with blood, assists in developing 
myopy and other diseased conditions. This engorge- 
ment increases the hydrostatic tension of the eye- 
ball, which aids the accommodative efforts to elon- 
gate the globe, and cause the posterior wall of the 
eye-ball to give way and cause posterior staphyloma. 


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It is cruel to compel an overgrown boy of sixteen 
years of age to occupy a seat and desk that will 
suit a small boy of ten years of age. He will have 
to bend forward in order to see to read and write on 
his desk, and in this manner he strains his eyes and 
keeps them in a state of engorgement during all the 
hours of school. Seats and desks ought, by all 
means, to be graded according to the sizfe of the 
scholars. School rooms ought to be constructed 
and seated under the supervision of intelligent 
superintendents. 

IV. Faults ih the Refractive Power of the 
Eyes. — In order to render myself comprehensible to 
those unfamiliar with the structure of the eye, it 
will be necessary to describe the parts concerned in 
the refraction and accommodation of the eye. The 
outer tunic of the eye-ball is a firm fibrous mem- 
brane ; the opaque portion, the sclerotica, comprises 
five-sixths of the entire membrane, and the anterior 
transparent one-sixth being called the cornea, which 
forms a part of the dioptric apparatus, and with the 
aqueous humor immediately back of it, it may be 
considered as a plano-convex lens. Back of the 
aqueous humor we have the crystalline lens, a 
bi-convex concentrating lens, the posterior surface 
of which rests in an excavation of the vitreous 


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humor, over the convex surface of the latter the 
retina or sensitive nerve membrane expands like a 
transparent paste, but which is a most complex 
nervous organization, on which the real images 
of objects are cast. This, then, in brief, is the 
refracting portion of the visual organ. 

The eye possesses also the wonderful power of 
self-adaptation for near or for far sight, which act is 
called the power of accommodation. The organ of 
accommodation is the ciliary muscle, which has its 
larger extremity just behind the cornea, being in 
contact externally with the sclerotica, running back 
two and a half to three lines, terminating in an apex 
posteriorly. It possesses voluntary and organic 
muscular fibres, and is as much under the control 
of the will as is the little finger. By contraction of 
its voluntary fibres, the antero-posterior diameter of 
the lens is increased, and the eye is accommodated 
for seeing near objects. 

In Fig. 1 an eye is represented as normal in its 
refractive power ; such an eye is called an emetropic 
eye. Parallel rays of light are concentrated on the 
retina at q. In Fig. 2 a myopic eye is illustrated. 
This is an oblong or pear-shaped eye, and its antero- 
posterior diameter is too long. Parallel rays are 
brought to a focus in front of the retina, at b, whilst 


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it requires divergent rays coming from a to be 
brought to a focus on the retina at a'. 

In Fig. 3 we see a hypermetropic eye — too flat, 
with its antero-posterior diameter too short. Conse- 
quently, parallel rays are not brought to a focus on 
the retina, but the point b\ behind the retina. It 
requires convergent rays to form a focus on the 
retina at a". 

Besides the above forms of anomaly of refraction, 
there is the astigmatic eye, constituted by different 
refractive power in the different meridians of the 
same eye, causing distortion of images. It is caused 
mostly by irregularities on the corneal surface. This 
last form is too complex for consideration here. 

A. Myopy . — We have indicated above that 


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myopy consists in malformation of the eye. The 
eye is pear-shaped, and its optic axis becomes 
elongated, so that parallel rays of light no longer 
concentrate on the retina, but in front of it. Only 
divergent rays can form distinct images of objects 
on the retina. Distinct images of objects can be 
obtained in two ways: by bringing objects near to 
the eye, or by the use of concave spectacles, which 
refract parallel rays divergently. 

Myopy is a condition peculiar to civilized life. 
It is brought about by overtaxing the muscle of 
accommodation, either by too long protracted read- 
ing or writing, or by some work requiring long 
continued sight for small objects, as in watch- 
making. Once acquired, it is transmitted to chil- 
dren ; both parents being myopic, the children are 
quite apt to be myopic. 

In Germany this trouble is frightful, Cohn having 
found, in some of the higher classes in the gymna- 
siums of Prussia, more than sixty per cent, of 
myopes. Dr. Cohn examined ten thousand and 
sixty scholars in the schools of Silesia, and *found 
myopy in all the schools. He found but few cases 
in the village schools ; in the city schools he found : 

In the Middle Departments, one-tenth myopic. 

In the High Schools, ( Real Schulen,) one-fifth myopic. 

In the Gymnasiums, one-fourth myopic. 


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The increase from the lower to the higher classes 
Dr. Cohn found to be constant, proving clearly that 
it was developed by overtaxing the accommodative 
power of the eye. Being warned by the example of 
Germany that too long protracted study in poorly 
lighted school rooms leads to such disasters, it is to 
be hoped that our young country will so act as to 
escape such a fate, at least to a great extent. 

Myopy is either stationary or progressive. 
Myopia, if not arrested, gets to be of higher and 
higher grade, until the posterior wall of the eye-ball 
bulges out, the vascular coat atrophies, and distinct 
vision is forever lost. Unfortunately, such cases are 
not a great rarity ; such cases can, however, be saved 
from a fatal result. When a child who can not see 
the letters on the blackboard from his seat, nor see 
across the room, is observed by the teacher, notice 
should be taken of the case immediately. If the 
child can readily read the finest print, or see any 
near object distinctly, but is unable to see across 
the room, then it is a. case of myopy, and the child 
should be turned over to a competent physician for 
a course of treatment with atropin, or for the neces- 
sary corrective spectacles ; delay is dangerous. In 
the absence of medical aid, a teacher may order 
spectacles; for instance, if the patient can only 


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see Snellen’s type No. 2 fifteen inches, then No. 15 
concave spectacles are ordered. Or if No. 1 type 
can only be read at ten inches, then No. 10 concave 
spectacles are ordered. So for any distance the far 
point of distinct vision in inches gives us the num- 
ber of the concave spectacle to be ordered. 

B. Hy'permetro'py. — The hypermetropic eye is 
a defect in the opposite direction from myopy. In 
hypermetropy we have an imperfectly developed 
eye, and the optic axis is too short, so that parallel 
rays of light are not brought to a focus on the 
retina, but on a point beyond the retina, and only 
convergent rays can be concentrated on the retina, 
and consequently convex spectacles are needed to 
neutralize the defect. In high degrees of hyperme- 
tropia, at the age of eight, ten or twelve years, 
vision becomes painful, causing aching of the eyes, 
brows and temples. This condition is called asthen- 
apia, and it gets worse, until reading becomes so 
painful that the child will have to be kept out of 
school. In such a case, when a pair of spectacles 
for an old person is put on the child, he will see 
distant objects more clearly with strong convex 
spectacles than without them ; such a case should 
be turned over to a skillful oculist for adjustment of 
spectacles. The rule is to select the weakest convex 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


spectacles that will enable the patient to see distant 
objects distinctly. Such cases, when neglected, 
often develop convergent squint ; very often, when 
the effort to use the eyes without spectacles is kept 
up too long, the eye suffers so much from straining 
of the accommodation, and from irritability of the 
retina and choroid, that the nutrition of the fundus 
of the eye is disturbed to an extent so as to perma- 
nently impair vision. 

There is another form of refractive trouble that 
concerns persons from thirty-six to fifty years of 
age — I mean presbyopy. From childhood the near 
point of vision recedes gradually, up to old age. 
The lens becomes harder and more flattened, so that 

i 

on contraction of the voluntary fibres of the ciliary 
muscle, the anterior surface of the lens no longer 
bulges forward, to render possible distinct vision at 
near distance. The affected person finds that his 
book has to be held farther from the eyes to ren- 
der reading possible. Reading at night begins to 
become wearisome to the eyes, and after a time 
the ciliary muscle will become irritable and pain- 
ful from overwork, and the eyes, brows and temples 
will ache. If reading is persisted in under such 
circumstances, the eyes will become so irritable and 
painful as to render reading impossible. All that 


T eachers 5 Association. 


109 


is needed is to have the presbyopy corrected by the 
proper convex spectacles. Many persons have a 
horror of growing old, and will defer the nse of 
spectacles much too long for their comfort and the 
health of their eyes. There is a foolish saying, that 
it is best to defer the use of spectacles as long as 
possible, because if once used their use cannot be 
dispensed with, and, I will add, should not be 
dispensed with. Just as soon as a person can read 
with more comfort to the eyes by the use of convex 
glasses, the health of the eyes demands their use. 

Donders has estimated that as soon as the far 
point of distinct vision recedes beyond eight inches, 
the person is presbyopic and needs spectacles. For 
example, we find a person who cannot read Snel- 
len’s type No. 1 nearer than twelve inches, whereas 
he ought to be able to read them at eight inches, 
then it is clear that the person needs spectacles. 
The formula is this : £ — T V = ; then we order 

+ 24 spectacles for reading. Or again, No. 2 
Snellen can only be read as near as fifteen inches, 
then we calculate £ — t V = tt t- 7 > and we order + 17 > 
and so on for all degrees of presbyopy. 


110 


North-Eastern Ohio 


ORAL INSTRUCTION VERSUS TEXT-BOOKS. 

BY HENRY M. JAMES, CLEVELAND. 

The question of oral instruction and text-books, 
involving, as it does, so much of method, and so 
much that is fundamental in education, though an 
old and much debated one, is one concerning which 
the educational world are not well agreed. It is still 
a fit subject for discussion. As is usually the case, 
high ground has been taken on both sides of this 
question, and the schoolmasters have gone to the 
farthest extremes. On the one hand, text-books 
have been committed to memory and have been the 
main reliance of teachers, even in the instruction of 
the youngest children ; while others have proposed 
to banish text-books entirely from the school room 
and depend wholly on oral instruction. 

The use of text-books has, doubtless, in many 
cases, been abused. There are all about us children 
who have been hindered in their educational course, 
and have early acquired a strong aversion for school, 
because they have been required to study books for 
which they were not prepared, and memorize state- 
ments which they did not understand ; and more 
than one teacher has failed to gain a worthy place 


Teachers' rtssocialion. 


Ill 


in his profession because he has not known how to 
use text-books judiciously. 

I presume one of the greatest evils connected with 
the use of text-books has come from putting them 
into the hands of children too early. At a time 
when they cannot read, they are often provided with 
treatises on geography and arithmetic, and even 
grammar, written in a style that they cannot under- 
stand even when the books are read to them by 
others. The child of eight or nine years who can 
read the lessons of the Second Reader with great 
difficulty, finds the statements that ‘‘Geography is 
a description of the surface of the earth;” that 
“The equator is an imaginary line extending around 
the earth at equal distances from the poles and 
dividing it into hemispheres ;” that “Cases, in gram- 
mar, are modifications that distinguish the relations 
of nouns and pronouns to other words;” and that 
“Arithmetic is the science of numbers and the art 
of numerical computation;” very difficult ones to 
make out and very uninteresting after he is able to 
pronounce the words. The result in almost every 
case is that he dislikes his geography and arith- 
metic — his books and school; and unless better 
influences get hold of him, his career as a scholar 
ends very early. I suppose a very large majority 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


of the children in this country leave school from 
choice and not from necessity, because having never 
acquired any fondness for study, school work be- 
comes to them the merest drudgery, and less attract- 
ive than physical toil. Children have not a natural 
aversion to learning, but on the contrary are eager to 
use their eyes and ears ; and this unfortunate result 
is due in almost every case to the errors of early 
instruction. Of all the errors committed in edu- 
cation, there are none that impress me as more 
pernicious or tending more directly to this result, 
than putting into the hands of children text-books 
above their comprehension and beyond their years. 

Another difficulty with text-book instruction, 
much akin to the one already mentioned, consists 
in allowing children to commit to memory defini- 
tions and statements that they do not understand. 
I apprehend that this is much more general than 
many of us are aware. All along, from the earliest 
steps till the average common school education is 
finished, this evil exists to a greater or less degree. 
I do not know but all teachers allow it to a certain 
extent, and all pupils, even the most thoughtful, 
suffer from it. Scientific thought runs very readily 
into certain forms of expression, so complete and 
appropriate that they become a sort of formula ; and 


Teachers' Association. 


113 


nothing is easier than to give a child these set forms 
with an imperfect explanation of their meaning, and 
be satisfied if he is able to reproduce our thoughts 
in the beautiful and befitting language of the text- 
book, even though that language be to him as devoid 
of ideas as so many lines of a Greek tragedy. In 
arithmetic, definitions and rules may be repeated 
without any accompanying knowledge except of the 
language of the statements, and the study of Eng- 
lish grammar is full of this tendency. In our best 
schools, large numbers of pupils may be found who 
use the terms case , limit , government , co-ordinate , 
and many others, who could not possibly tell you 
what they mean except in the very excellent lan- 
guage of their books. And the lack is not wholly 
in facility of expression, but in a well defined idea 
of the thing. The child with a good verbal memory 
almost invariably makes a good scholar until within 
a year or two of the high school, and perhaps even 
then. Where is the teacher who has not discovered 
this tendency over and over again with the recur- 
rence of each day’s lessons, and in almost every 
branch taught in the schools, of pupils relying 
mainly on their memory and reciting glibly the 
words of their text-books without any conception 
of their real meaning? 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


Again, many teachers confine themselves to the 
books too closely. Who that has visited schools to 
any considerable extent, has not been pained to see 
teachers, during the recitation, tediously searching 
the pages of the text-book for questions to ask, with 
their pupils, as might be expected, manifesting no 
interest, whatever, in what was going on. The diffi- 
culty of finding questions may be avoided, and often 
is, by requiring the pupil to recite without ques- 
tions, which exercise, though valuable as a means 
of discipline, is nevertheless a poor one, if it alone 
is used. The Superintendent of the Public Schools 
of St. Louis has become so impressed with the 
extent of this cramming process and this evil ten- 
dency in the use of text-books, that he has recom- 
mended to the Board of Education of that city the 
“ adoption of a regulation prohibiting to the teacher 
the use of the text-book in the recitation whenever 
the pupil is expected to recite without the book.” 
A recitation ought to serve another purpose besides 
testing the pupils’ knowledge of the lesson. The 
teacher ought to be so full of the matter to be 
taught, so furnished with illustrations and interest- 
ing and valuable facts connected with the subject in 
hand, that with a free hand and a free eye he is able 
to throw an amount of life and zeal into the pupil’s 


Teachers’ Association. 


115 


work that will inspire and strengthen him for future 
effort. 

And yet I apprehend that if the text-books are to 
be arraigned on an indictment of having done great 
damage to the cause of education, the evidence will 
show a large balance in their favor. Though there 
are evils connected with text-book instruction, I 
have no idea that the abolition of text- books would 
banish all the evils from the world. Indeed we 
should in this case pass the point of safety, and 
go to a more dangerous extreme. A good text-book 
is simply a presentation of a subject, with its order 
of arrangement and its methods of elucidation — the 
result of large experience and of the best thoughts- 
of a clear and comprehensive mind, and teachers 
must either use the books prepared by others or 
assume the responsibility of making them for them- 
selves. If only oral teaching is to be practiced, all 
our teachers , the beginner as well as those of large 
experience and observation, those of moderate abili- 
ties as well as those of keen and comprehensive 
intellect — all of the many thousands who take 
charge of the school room, the rank and file of the 
profession, must be expected to originate systems 
and methods of instruction of their own. Now who- 
believes that even among the most capable teachers. 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


there is orie person competent to do this work so 
as to make intelligent pupils, where’ scores- can be 
found who are able to present the plan of a good 
author and secure satisfactory results? 

The additional labor for the teacher, in case of 
purely oral instruction, would be so great as to 
constitute another serious objection to its adoption. 
The work of teaching is hard enough at best. Com- 
paratively few persons have sufficient strength to 
enable them to endure the strain of the school 
room many years, even when, by the aid of text- 
books, much of the work is made light ; but remove 
text-books entirely from the school room, and the 
work of preparation of lessons would become very 
much increased. The amount of additional talking 
would be very exhausting, and the mere mechan- 
ical labor of furnishing the pupils with outlines of 
their lessons, by placing exercises on blackboard 
to be copied, or by other means, would greatly 
multiply the work of the teacher. Add to these 
the continuous effort to secure attention and main- 
tain discipline in school, which would hardly 
become easier by releasing the children from their 
books, and the labor of teaching would become 
intolerable. 

One of the most valuable things to be learned in 


Teachers' Association. 


117 


childhood is how to study books. Teachers can be 
at hand but a few years at the longest, but books 
may be our companions and instructors all our 
lives. The number of adults is not large who know 
well how books are to be used — who understand 
how to gather ideas from the printed page with 
ease and readiness, and the teacher who can make 
his pupils able to study books for themselves intelli- 
gently and with pleasure, and has thus introduced 
them to the great and good of all ages, has done 
more for the cultivation of their minds and hearts 
than if he had taught them the elements of many 
sciences. If a system of purely oral instruction 
shall be adopted, I do not see how this great 
point could be gained. 

With the bare mention of the objection that 
purely oral instruction is in great danger of degen- 
erating into a simple pouring-in process, so that 
children so taught have frequently less independent 
intellectual powder than others, but are more depend- 
ent on the teacher, let me add that knowledge 
gained from oral instruction is generally vague, 
indefinite and poorly arranged. u The memory of 
the child cannot be expected to retain perfectly 
all that is said by his teacher. Few persons who 
listen to a sermon or a lecture can afterward give 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


more than a meagre outline of the thoughts pre- 
sented. It is certainly unreasonable to expect that 
a child shall keep distinctly and tenaciously in 
mind anything more than the main points of the 
oral lesson ; and as a matter of fact he will retain 
permanently but few of these. To fix things safely 
in the memory they must be studied carefully, 
deliberately, repeatedly. The learning of them once 
is by no means enough. Review after review is 
absolutely necessary. Just here oral instruction is 
seriously defective ; whereas good text-books , wisely 
used , afford the requisite aid.”* It is significant, 
too, that in Oswego, where oral instruction has had 
the widest range and been most thoroughly tested, 
the results have been very unsatisfactory. The 
principal of the Oswego High School has recently 
stated that it has become necessary to modify the 
conditions of admission to bring in those pupils 
who are the results of oral instruction, and that the 
standard of scholarship, and the general power of 
the pupils in those schools, has steadily degenerated 
since the abandonment of the old methods. So 
great was the opposition that was aroused last 
winter to Mr. Sheldon’s system of instruction, even 
among the friends of education, that from being the 


* Mass. Teacher, June, 1869. 


Teachers’ Association. 


119 


most radical educational centre in the country — the 
very Mecca of the advocates of oral instruction — 
there was great danger that Oswego would abandon 
all she had gained, and swing clear to the other 
extreme.* 

If, then, there is one danger of using text-books 
too much, and another of using them too little, the 
question arises, how shall they be used, and what is 
the proper relation of text-books to oral instruction % 
Although this question is not easily answered in all 
its details, a general solution of it is quite possible. 
Here, as elsewhere, there is a golden mean, and that 
will indicate for us the path of safety. 

In the lower grades, with the exception of read- 
ing, all the instruction should be oral. The usual 
objections to oral instruction do not hold here, on 
account of the nature of the studies pursued all 
through the four years of the primary grade. Diffi- 
cult principles, abstract definitions and tedious 
explanations have no place in a primary course of 
study. Language should be taught by exercises, 
arithmetic by examples, common things by observa- 
tion, and geography by maps and the blackboard. 
Moreover, the ground to be gone over in the 

♦The information upon which this statement is made is wholly private, 
but, as the writer supposes, entirely reliable. 


120 


North-Eastern Ohio 


primary schools is so small that the extra work for 
the teacher is not so immense, and frequent reviews 
are practicable. 

In the grades above the primary, when children 
have learned to read, and have sufficient under- 
standing of the meaning of words to use them 
intelligently, let them begin the use of text-books. 
It is, of course, a matter of great importance that we 
have good text-books, with logical and consecutive 
plan, simple and appropriate language, compact 
and pointed in statement, free from all superfluous 
matter, and in no respect above the comprehension 
of the children by whom they are used. Just such 
text-books as we need are priceless treasures. But 
if we cannot have those that are perfect, let us take 
the best ones and use them wisely and faithfully. 
All through the grammar grades, I would have oral 
and text-book instruction go hand in hand. The 
oral should lead and the text-book follow closely 
behind. Before a definition is learned, let the teacher 
by an oral lesson make plain the distinction which 
the definition involves, and then let the definition be 
memorized as thoroughly as any Puritan child ever 
learned the Ten Commandments ; the process in 
arithmetic first, and then the rule; the idea of a 
principle, and then the statement of the principle ; 


Teachers' vlssocialion. 


121 


and always let rules and principles be committed to 
memory, and while the process helps to understand 
the rule, the language of the rule will assist in hold- 
ing the process in the memory, and thus the two 
will reciprocally help each other. Let us not under- 
value the memory. It is one of the noblest faculties 
of the mind, and should perform an important part 
in the work of education ; and while the perceptive 
faculties are quickened, and the language cultivated, 
while eye and ear and hand are trained to perform 
better their part, let the memory be strengthened by 
constant and vigorous exercise. 

Teachers are in danger of losing sight of the fact 
that children have to learn how to study a lesson ; 
in what order a subject should be taken up ; what 
things are more important and should be studied 
with care, and what are to be passed over lightly ; 
that the most compact history is not to be committed 
to memory ; that learning every date is but little if 
any better than learning no dates; — all this and 
much more children do not at first understand, and 
the teacher, by preliminary and oral instruction, 
should make these matters clear. 

The text-book should be the teacher’ s guide ; 
should be strong enough for him to lean upon with 
confidence ; should be at hand for constant reference 


122 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


by the pupils, and should be the means of frequent 
reviews. It seems to me there is no occasion for so 
loud an outcry against the teacher’s “ asking the 
questions at the bottom of the page.” Those ques- 
tions are sometimes the most pertinent, direct and 
searching that could be framed, and may well be 
employed; but for every question taken from the 
book, let the teacher make two of his own, and let 
him, with interesting facts and fitting illustrations, 
try so to clothe the subject with interest that the 
review of a lesson shall be full of delight. It is 
doubtful whether, all things considered, this country 
has produced an abler teacher than the venerable 
Dr. Mark Hopkins, of Williams College, and yet in 
his Saturday morning lessons on the Old Assem- 
bly’s Catechism, in which he has particularly dis- 
tinguished himself, he is never afraid to ask the 
very questions and expect the same answers that we 
find printed in that very old-fashioned educational 
work ; but so richly furnished is he with illustra- 
tions and other means of making his subject inter- 
esting, that a want of interest in his classes is quite 
unknown, and he never finds it necessary, in order 
to secure attendance, to resort to calling the roll. 

But, after all, it is the old, old way that prevails. 
There is no royal road to learning. There is a law 


Teachers' Pissocialion. 


123 


of our nature as old as our race, that makes growth 
the result of exercise. Mental power can never be 
acquired except by mental activity, and well regu- 
lated mental activity is sure to bring an increase of 
power. The observation and experience of the wise 
may give us many valuable suggestions and helps, 
but the ancients, like ourselves and those who are yet 
to come, acquired their wisdom and their strength 
in accordance with this unvarying and universal 
law. Happy is the effort of that author who gives 
us a text-book, violating no principle of intellectual 
growth : blessed is that teacher who is able to 
so arouse and awaken in our youth those mental 
activities, that from the powers within they will 
attain their highest development. 


TRAINING IN THE USE OF LANGUAGE. 

BY HARRIET L. KEELER, CLEVELAND. 

In our language lessons we do not seek to go 
back to that underlying principle of all language — 
the giving of new experiences from whence new 
ideas shall arise, to which new words give expres- 
sion. We do not in the least attempt this. Such 


124 


North-Eastern Ohio 


fundamental work, so far as it comes within the 
province of the school, lies in the domain of the 
object lesson ; and that it does lie there, we have the 
authority of the highest example and the most 
ancient practice ' for Adam’ s first lesson in language 
was an object lesson, and his Maker was his teacher. 

Nor do we wish to be credited with the mistake 
of supposing that, because we give a child new 
words, we convey to him new ideas. Not at all. 
Words in and of themselves never convey ideas. 
The idea must first exist in the mind ere the word 
can be vivified with meaning. A word can express 
an idea, but it cannot create one. 

Upon neither of these ideas, then, do we base 
our language lessons, but rather upon this, which, 
if admitted, is a most ample and sufficient founda- 
tion; namely, that every child knows a great deal 
more than he can express — that there lies in the 
mind of every child a mass of vague impressions, 
incomplete conceptions, half-formed ideas, born of 
his emotions, of his sensuous pleasures, of his joys 
and sorrows — that these lie very largely in the 
realm of unconsciousness, from whence they may 
be evoked by the application of the proper stimulus, 
and become part of the child’ s actual and available 
knowledge. To provoke the impression of these 


Teachers' Association. 


125 


ideas, to clothe them with new words, to give a 
choice between words which convey the same idea, 
to show the child something of the harmony and 
melody of language — in short, to lift him up from 
the simple indication of his physical wants to the 
expression of his higher nature — such are the aims 
of our language lessons. 

Such being our aims, what are our means % Prin- 
cipally three — pictures, stories, poems. We choose 
pictures because of their suggestiveness. They sug- 
gest so much to the child ; they lead him on from 
one thing to another ; they touch his experience at 
so many points that, if he gets well started and feels 
free, he will exhaust his vocabulary in telling you 
all about them. Our only pictures for this purpose 
are those found in the school readers, which, of 
course, are arranged with no such object in view, 
and in no logical sequence ; yet they are excellent 
for the purpose and render most efficient service. 
However, a series of pictures might be arranged 
which would shadow forth the child’s past life, and 
with which you might fathom the depths of his 
consciousness. By the skillful use of pictures, we 
may obtain from the child almost his entire vocabu- 
lary, and, in addition, give him many new words. 

Stories, however, offer the best opportunity to 


126 


North-Eastern Ohio 


improve the child’s language and culture. You 
can do almost anything with children if you will 
but tell them stories. You can refine their feel- 
ings, touch their emotions, rouse their enthusiasm, 
awaken their ambition, enkindle their devotion. 
There is nothing in the broad sweep of noble living 
or noble thinking that you cannot bring to their 
consciousness by means of a story. As for informa- 
tion, you can give all you wish. As for language, 
the story is the very royal road to its acquisition. 
Tell a group of children a story which has awakened 
their interest and enchained their fancy, and then 
ask for it back again, and notice how accurately it 
will come. If you have used new words and expres- 
sions, having made their meaning clear, they will 
come back also, in your very words and with the 
very tricks of your voice. 

In order to make this exercise a successful one, 
reproduction, both oral and written, must be insisted 
upon. With small children this must, of course, be 
entirely oral ; with larger children it should be both 
oral and written, never, however, permitting the 
written to displace the oral. It is, indeed, desira- 
ble to write well; it is equally desirable to talk 
well. Much also can be done at this point to 
obtain distinct articulation, full utterance, and to 


Teachers' Association. 


127 


cultivate a respectful and self-respecting attitude 
when speaking. 

Pictures and stories will accomplish much ; but, 
to show a child the melody and harmony of lan- 
guage, we must use poems. Some of these should 
be such as can be taught him ; others such as he 
can understand when read. It may be urged that 
children can not appreciate poetry ; but any child 
who has sat in the sunshine, and heard the birds 
sing, and felt the wind blow, and gained pleasure 
thereby, has within him the germs of poetic feeling. 
And as in the child ages of the world the first litera- 
ture of all nations was ballads, so the child finds in 
the ballad his first delight. 

There seems no reason why these lessons might 
not be carried up through the higher grades, broad- 
ening and deepening until the simple story expands 
into an article ; the few new expressions into a choice 
essay ; the simple dialogue into the drama ; the 
ballad into the complete poem. Let reproduction, 
both oral and written, follow every step ; and then, 
when the pupils reach the higher grammar grades, 
they will not only be able to parse and analyze and 
perform examples in arithmetic, but they will be 
able to recognize their mother-tongue when they 
see it. And the luckless teacher of the high school 


128 


North-Eastern Ohio 


will not be compelled to explain Dickens, point out 
the quaint humor of Irving, or the beauties of Long- 
fellow, and wage an unequal war with dime novels 
and “yellow-covered literature,” but the pupils will 
already have gained power to select and appreciate. 

These results can be obtained, but only upon one 
condition, and that is, that you proclaim a divorce 
between language and technical grammar. If you 
do not, if you attempt to teach them together, and 
then come in with your monthly examinations in 
grammar, your results in language will amount to 
nothing. The language will be merged in the gram- 
mar very much as Jonah was merged in the whale, 
with by no means the same chance of getting out 
that he had. A knowledge, however accurate, of 
technical grammar will never give the power to 
wield the English language with strength and 
precision. This comes only through example 
and practice — and where shall the great mass of 
children acquire it if not in school? 

How successful this plan may be in the higher 
grades, we cannot tell ; but how remarkable its suc- 
cess is in the lower, we know, for it has been tested. 


Teachers' Association. 


129 


OBJECT TEACHING. 

BY SAMUEL FINDLEY, AKRON. 

Pestalozzi has said, that in all revolutions people 
always begin by rejecting good and bad together. 
This is true in regard to what men accept as well as 
what they reject. Want of discrimination charac- 
terizes the great mass of the human family. Our 
profession affords few marked exceptions to the 
rule. In attempting to root out the tares from 
our systems of instruction, we root out with them 
much of the good wheat. In attempting to propa- 
gate new and good seed, we oftentimes sow tares. 
We have this for our warning and encouragement, 
that, in the end, the tares shall be burned, but the 
wheat shall be gathered into the barn. Just how 
much of the modern educator’s work will remain 
when the fire has done its work, cannot now be 
determined. In addition to the injurious tares 
which the fire will burn, there is, doubtless, also, 
much worthless chaff which the wind shall carry 
away. To be able to choose the good and reject 
the injurious and worthless in education, requires 
the highest intelligence and the purest purpose 
which humanity can attain. 


9 


130 


'Korlh-Easlern Ohio 


If the experience of each teacher present were 
written, in how many cases would the record cor- 
respond with that of Pestalozzi, when he said: 
‘‘Popular education lay before me like an immense 
marsh, in the mire of which I waded about, striv- 
ing to discover the sources from which its waters 
spring, and the causes by which their free course 
is obstructed.’’ And how often, as we flounder in 
this marsh, do we shout “Eureka” at sight of the 
deceptive mirage about us. 

These thoughts were suggested to my mind while 
reflecting on the much worn subject of object teach- 
ing. This is a pedagogical term, which though 
much used is not well defined. It is used by dif- 
ferent persons to apply to very different things. In 
its common acceptation it is applied to disjointed 
talks in schools about pieces of wood, stone, iron, 
glass, sponge, etc., in which are brought to light 
the remarkable facts that wood is light and stone 
is heavy; that iron is tough and glass is brittle; 
that air is good to breathe and water to drink ; that 
sugar is sweet and vinegar is sour, etc. Such exer- 
cises are not without value when directed to their 
proper end ; but aside from their use in lower grades 
of schools as lessons in language, they seem to me 
more appropriate for the nursery than the school. 


Teachers' Association. 


131 


Many teachers seem to ignore the fact that the child, 
previous to its admission to school, has already re- 
ceived six years of tuition, which, if less systematic 
and formal, is more natural, and produces ^ better 
growth than the tuition of the school. I believe 
teachers are often engaged in laborious efforts to do 
for young minds what unaided nature has already 
far better done. The acquisitions of a child of even 
four years are truly wonderful. Its faculties, espe- 
cially those concerned in observation, have been 
actively and pleasurably employed. The power 
of imagination has already gained considerable 
strength. The use of language has been acquired 
with an ease and rapidity not equaled in any sub- 
sequent four years of the child’s life. There has 
been no senseless word-cramming, but words have 
been learned when needed to express ideas previ- 
ously acquired. In short, the mind has not only 
germinated, it has pushed out its branches in almost 
every direction, before the teacher is called to the 
task of its cultivation. True object teaching; con- 
tinues the work which nature has so well begun. 

I do not understand that object teaching is syn- 
onymous with object lessons or lessons on common 
things. It is a much more comprehensive term, 
being as extensive in its scope as education itself. 


132 


North-Eastern Ohio 


It is used to express the opposite of the old sense- 
less word-cramming, which has prevailed and still 
prevails in many schools. It is used, for want 
of a fetter term in our language, as expressive 
of the natural or rational method of teaching. 
The fundamental principles on which it is based 
have their foundation in the nature of the human 
mind. A few of these principles may be briefly 
enumerated. 

I. Mind is developed by thinking. Whatever 
determines the mind to self-activity promotes its 
growth. Sir William Hamilton says: “The pri- 
mary principle of education is the determination 
of the pupil to self-activity.” This principle is 
not kept sufficiently in mind. We are apt to do 
too much for our pupils ; or, at least we do not 
require them to do enough for themselves. It is 
to be feared that too much of our modern teaching 
has an effect similar to that of reading novels and 
romances. It exhilarates without strengthening. 
It does not tend to produce intellectual robust- 
ness. Those are not the best books which think 
for us, but those which make us think. They are 
not the best teachers who think for their pupils, 
but they who make their pupils think. 

II. Nature furnishes the primary objects of 


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133 


thought. The sights and sounds which every- 
where meet the eye and ear of the little child, 
are its first and best teachers. To fill the minds 
of young children with unmeaning words is not 
education. Words are but symbols of ideas, and 
are useless until the mind is put in possession 
of the ideas they represent. Language is not the 
producer, but the vehicle of thought. 

III. The senses are the gateways of the soul. 
All the elements of our knowledge are acquired, 
in the first instance, through the organs of sense. 
This is true even of our consciousness, for it is 
only by knowing other things that the mind 
knows itself. Just what relation our intuitions 
bear to our sense-knowledge, it is unnecessary 
here to determine. That they are traceable to some 
previous exercise of sense as the occasion and con- 
dition of their development, is generally admitted. 

IV. There is a natural order of mental develop- 
ment. It is not to be assumed that the growth of 
mind proceeds by such clearly defined stages, that 
we can mark the end of one process of develop- 
ment and the beginning of another. It would be 
hard to say at what age a child commences the 
exercise of imagination and reason. This, how- 
ever, all must admit, that sense-perception is the 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


natural exercise of young minds, and that this 
exercise mtist precede the exercise of every other 
power of the mind. There is not an intellectual 
faculty whose activity would be possible without 
sense-perceptions, and the value of whose products 
are not directly dependent on the accuracy and 
completeness of fundamental perceptions. 

Y. How is more important than what in educa- 
tion. It is of less consequence, with reasonable 
limitations, what branches of knowledge occupy 
the mind, than what habits of attention and thought 
are formed in their acquisition. The power of clear 
perception and nice discrimination may be culti- 
vated in teaching drawing or vocal music, no less 
than in formal object lessons; and careless and 
incorrect habits of observation, and slovenliness of 
thought, may be begotten by lessons on common 
objects as readily as by any other lessons taught 
in school. All depends upon how these exercises 
are conducted. 

The grand aim of object teaching, then, is the 
development of human powers by natural means 
and method, and in natural order. This includes 
mainly three things: the training of the mental 
faculties by self-activity, the imparting of informa- 
tion, and the cultivation of language. The first is 


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135 


the ultimate and principal aim ; the other two are 
subsidiary to it, though each has great value per 
se. Some one has said that that which, more than 
any thing else, marks indelibly and manifestly the 
well* disciplined mind, is the power of forming clear 
ideas and giving them precise and elegant expres- 
sion. To be able to form clear ideas requires the 
training of the senses to receive and convey impres- 
sions promptly and accurately. Good eyes and ears 
are essential. Then the mind must be trained to 
convert these impressions into correct and full per- 
ceptions. This is fundamental in education. If we 
fail to give our pupils the power of forming clear 
perceptions, we can give them little else that is 
valuable. Oral and written descriptions of per- 
sons, places, pictures and other objects are valuable 
means of discipline in this direction. Questions, 
problems and directions given by the teacher should 
as a rule be stated but once, that pupils may form 
the habit of close attention and quick perception. 

The next step in the process of mental develop- 
ment is so to train the memory and imagination as 
to secure the power of accurate and vivid con- 
ception. The objection is sometimes made that 
objective teaching tends to beget a materialistic 
cast of mind, unfavorable to the forming of vivid 


136 North-Eastern Ohio 

mental images of the unseen. I think there may 
be force in this objection, as applied to much that 
passes under the name of object teaching. The 
activity of the mind may be limited to mere sense- 
perception to such an extent as to leave undeveloped 
the power of forming vivid concepts. I think, how- 
ever, the danger in this direction is not great ; there 
is far greater danger that the mind will lack in the 
power of full and accurate conception through 
defective perceptiveness. The clearness, accuracy 
and durability of memory are directly dependent 
on the vividness and accuracy of the original per- 
ception ; and imagination, which we are wont to 
call the creative faculty, is likewise dependent for 
its activity upon the acuteness of previous observa- 
tion. What we call the creations of the imagination 
are but the “ replacing of former sensations and 
perceptions, not in combination and order, accord- 
ing to the original and actual, but rather according 
to the mind’s own ideal, and at its own will and 
fancy.” The foundation, then, of clear conception 
is keen perceptiveness. This secured, the rest is 
comparatively easy. 

The power of the mind to make careful compari- 
son and complete generalization is one of the most 
important. This, too, is only attained through 


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137 


careful observation of individual facts. And so I 
might go on to show that reason and practical judg- 
ment depend largely upon correct, discriminating 
observation. The disciplined use of the senses, 
then, in acquiring clear perceptions, is essential to 
any effective exercise of any or all the other intel- 
lectual faculties. Now this does not prove, to my 
mind, that all that is disciplinary in a common school 
course of instruction should be directed to the 
development of the perceptive faculties. It does 
indicate, however, that this is the starting point. 
Primary instruction should deal largely with sensi- 
ble objects, and with concrete knowledge, rather 
than with the symbols of knowledge, or with 
abstract principles. It indicates, furthermore, that 
the study of a new subject in any grade of school, 
should commence with the observation of its ele- 
mentary facts, rather than with the memorizing of 
definitions or statements of abstract principles. 

The second aim of object teaching — to impart 
information — need not be dwelt upon. It comes 
in as an important and necessary element in the 
process of training the faculties; and while, as 
already stated, how is more important than what, 
the two rarely, if ever, conflict. The best informa- 
tion, imparted in the best way, constitutes the best 
discipline of the faculties. 


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Norih-Easlern Ohio 


The third aim, namely, the cultivation of the 
power of expression, deserves some attention — in 
fact, more attention than can be given it in this 
brief paper. This, too, is closely related to that 
which is disciplinary in education. The power of 
forming clear ideas, and of giving them exact 
expression, are mutually dependent. No one, all 
will admit, can give precise expression to thoughts 
not sharply defined in his own mind. That no one 
is able to form clear ideas without being able to 
give them expression, is nearer the truth than we 
are accustomed to think. I have said that language 
is the vehicle of thought. It is more ; it is the very 
instrument of thought. Our thoughts are spirits 
embodied in language. W e can form but very im- 
perfect conceptions of disembodied spirits; though 
with lifeless bodies we may be quite familiar. 

The child acquires the use of his mother tongue 
at first by the mere impulse of nature, which causes 
him to practice, unconsciously but persistently, the 
association of ideas with their sound symbols. The 
true object teacher, taking the suggestion from na- 
ture, pursues a similar course in imparting the 
knowledge and use of written language. Familiar 
ideas and their well-known sound symbols are 
associated with their corresponding form symbols, 
u n til each readily suggests either of the others. 


Teachers' tfissociaiion. 


139 


Thus language ultimately becomes the great instru- 
ment of human culture. As the mind acquires 
facility in translating the language of nature into 
spoken and written language, and the reverse, the 
text-book may properly claim more of the pupil’s 
attention. The pupil should commence the use of 
the text-book as soon as he can, under the guidance 
of the teacher, make an intelligent use of it, and 
no sooner. Text-book instruction should proceed 
in strict accordance with the principles of object 
teaching. It should first of all lead the pupil to 
careful observation and clear perception of the ele- 
mentary facts of the subject; and in so far as the 
text-book fails to do this for the pupil, or, in so far 
as the pupil is unable to make this use of the text- 
book, the instruction of the living teacher should 
precede, accompany and supplement the instruction 
of the text-book. 

I have said that language becomes the great 
instrument of human culture. This suggests that 
the cultivation of the power of expression is a very 
important part of the teacher’s work. Every read- 
ing lesson should be made a language study ; and 
a prominent object of every recitation should be 
to cultivate accuracy and facility in the use of 
language. 


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'Xorlh-Easlern Ohio 


Concerning formal lessons on common objects, I 
have said that they are not without value. When 
wisely conducted, they furnish good discipline for 
young minds. They give variety and interest to 
school exercises, and furnish means for the cultiva- 
tion of language; but they do not seem to me to 
constitute the summum bonum of school training. 
The conviction is strong in my mind that they 
should be considered auxiliary and subordinate, 
rather than leading instruments of human culture. 
What we most need is the intelligent application of 
the object method to the ordinary branches of school 
instruction. 

And we must learn to labor and to wait. The 
pressure upon the teacher to produce immediate 
and visible results is very great. W e owe it to our 
profession, as well as to our pupils, to resist this 
pressure. The most valuable acquisitions are the 
most difficult. The most valuable growth in the 
spiritual as well as the material world is a slow 
growth. We can secure for our pupils the best 
culture of mind and heart only by long-continued 
painstaking. 


Teachers' Association. 


141 


THE TEACHER IN GROOVES. 

MISS P. H. GOOD WIN, AKRON. 

The mightiest forces of nature are invisible. 
Steam, that has robbed earthly distance of its 
fetters and made the strength of man weak as a 
pigmy’s boast, presents no outline to the senses — 
the breath of vapor tells us only it is gone. The 
harnessed lightning, that has made our time a minus 
quantity, in its flight transports our thoughts, but 
leaves no photograph of self upon its course. The 
wind, that “bloweth where it listeth”; the life- 
principle that fashions with dextrous skill the form 
of animal and plant ; the force that keeps the worlds 
from jarring — these all are locked in secrecy. God, 
the Omnipotent Creator and Controller, is unseen, 
and every human life that is a power in the world is 
but the outgrowth of hidden forces — the embodi- 
ment of the ideal. There is an inner laboratory 
where thought evolves the forces that make living 
men, and in this ideal realm the spirit grasps its 
high ambitions, its heavenly inspirations, its pur- 
poses for good or evil; and if that inner horizon 
reaches no farther than the outer one of sense, the 


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North-Easier n Ohio 


sordid “eat and drink, for to-morrow we die”; or 
if the ideal images worship only at the shrine of 
self, such life is dead, or, like the misdirected light- 
ning’ s stroke, leaves in its way the shattered wrecks 
of what before was beautiful. 

Then, is it too much to say that whatever hinders 
the spirit in its upward flight, whatever would throw 
from its pedestal the lofty ideal that nerves the soul 
to action, is doing more than physical injury ; what- 
ever shuts out the beauty, the light, the purity 
which the eye hath not seen, shuts out from the 
discerning spirit its most ennobling influences. 

Such is the tendency of certain statements cur- 
rent concerning the teacher’s profession ; statements 
appearing in our leading periodicals; statements 
coming from the pen or lips of teachers claiming 
long experience ; statements made outside the teach- 
ers’ ranks, which certainly seem to find abundant 
proofs in things of ease and sense, yet which are 
like the worm-eaten plank in the keel of a ship, or 
like the quicksands under the builder’s founda- 
tions — undermining in their influences. 

I copy the following, which appeared in print as 
the conclusions drawn from fifteen years’ experience : 

“The teacher’s profession, to one of high intel- 
lectual aim, is intensely narrow and enfeebling in its 


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143 


tendency ; that it shoves the teacher from the busy 
currents of men and manly interests.” Also, “the 
average teacher has about three times as much low 
work as high work to do ; infinitely more belittling, 
sickening and heart-breaking contests with malice, 
stupidity or meanness, than real teaching. Neither 
has the teacher the same incitements as in other 
professions, in the feeling of increasing mental 
power and grasp.” And again the writer speaks of 
the morally belittling effects of the profession. 

This testimony would scarcely deserve notice 
were it an isolated instance. But quite frequently, 
even in my short experience, have I heard expres- 
sions from teachers betraying similar sentiments. 
Who is not familiar with the expressions, “If I 
teach much longer I shall fossilize;” “Oh, this 
wearisome, everlasting routine.” Only a few days 
since I heard a gentleman, very much interested 
in the cause of education, yet not a teacher, state 
that the greatest objections in his mind to being 
a teacher were the narrowness of the field, the small 
inducement financially, the being thrust out from 
the busy avenues of men. Indeed, so numerous 
are these suggestions, it behooves us to inquire, 
are these things so? Is the teacher’s profession a 
groove, or series of grooves, narrow, enfeebling? 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


Mast the teacher walk most of the way through a 
tunnel that shuts out the ennobling scenery of the 
heavens because of the “ three times as much low 
work as high work”? Do the ditches sink so deep, 
the embankments rise so high, that men and manly 
interests are thrust out? If these are truths, then 
many a fair ideal must lie prostrate in the dust, 
many a stout arm must fall nerveless, many brave 
hearts faint from weariness, for we as teachers are 
degraded. I raise my protest against these state- 
ments, and yet believe, with Herbert Spencer, that 
4 ‘there is a soul of truth in things erroneous.” 
There must be some excuse for such opinions. 

No doubt that there are many in this field of 
labor who have furrowed for themselves grooves 'of 
enfeebling narrowness, or tunneled for their feet a 
way of darkness. It will be generally conceded 
that the majority of lady teachers have chosen this 
profession because their circumstances in life made 
it necessary to seek some means of self-support, 
and since the avenues of labor are so few for women, 
they choose the teacher’ s profession as best adapted 
to their taste and acquirements. Let us grant that 
thus far there is nothing wrong in the motives of 
this choice. Man holds not all the reins that guide 
the car of destiny. Necessities come, and when the 


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145 


adequate means of relief come also, the choice is 
easily made. But, if with the teacher’s decision, 
there comes no higher inspiration, no grasping of 
the greatness of the undertaking, there is a wrong, 
and in the end most fearful failure. And it is 
because many gentlemen as well as ladies enter this 
profession with a biased choice, or as a stepping- 
stone to some other occupation, with no just appre- 
ciation of its possibilities, and because the tendency 
of the human heart is to become engrossed in the 
things of sense — forgetting that an unseen book is 
being written — that some, after a time, become nar- 
rowed, enfeebled, fossilized, prematurely old, per- 
haps embittered ; and, because they continue to draw 
their monthly salary, regard themselves as fair 
exponents of their profession, and complain of the 
small incitements to effort and the cramping rugged- 
ness of the way. It is they who have dishonored 
their calling, and who are the greatest incumbrances 
in placing before the eyes of men the true dignity of 
the teacher’s profession. Complaint is justly made 
of the small financial recompense. Improvement 
has been made of late years, but it has been brought 
about by the earnest men and women who have 
clamored least for pay ; who, throwing their whole 
energies into their labor, have endeavored to work 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


out the high ideals of their undertaking; and, in 
just such proportion as the latter workers take the 
places of the former, there will be a more liberal 
recompense. Some one may think of the difference 
between the pay of the gentleman and lady teacher, 
but that is a question which pertains to the labor 
of women, not to this discussion. Earnest, efficient 
labor will, in time, remove even this prejudice. 

Again, boards of education are not yet infallible 
in their judgments, and by their enactments they 
may unwisely cramp the earnest teacher : too many 
hours in the school room, overcrowded classes, etc., 
may hinder the desired success. These are some of 
the occasions which may give rise to the objec- 
tionable statements given above, but these may be 
regarded as adventitious offshoots from the sturdy 
trunk of the school system, hiding the symmetry 
of its proportions, but which are the results of 
wounds or mutilations, and not inherent in its 
growth. We claim for the teacher’s profession 
length, breadth, room for expansion to satisfy 
the most aspiring soul. 

First. Because the field of labor will use to 
advantage the highest intellectual development of 
which a human being is capable. We do not assert 
that all excellence can be attained in this profession. 


Teachers' Association. 


147 


It is simply one of many vocations, and few can 
excel in more than one. If the aim of one man is 
to gain a golden fortune, let him seek those avenues 
of business that lead to Wall Street power, but let 
him not say another profession is a groove because 
it does not lead to gold. Gold, in the world’s his- 
tory, has never been the measure of intellectual or 
moral greatness. If the poet’s fire flashes through 
his soul and his ambition seeks the laurel crown, 
let him seek the paths of literature, but be more 
humble than to say that mental power has no other 
wreath to claim. If forms of beauty waken in his 
soul and clamor for their freedom, let him make the 
marble speak, but let him not forget that there are 
other artists that may carve out fair ideals. But 
suppose a single intellect possessed of all the gifts 
of a ready writer 4o express in words his beautiful 
creations, and the ability of the sculptor to fashion 
in form the same ; suppose him possessed of all the 
knowledge that philosophers have gained of the men- 
tal faculties, all the facts that scientists have searched 
out, the proudest warrior’ s ability to command, and 
place him where he may direct and culture the fresh 
young life of the generation, then ask if there is one 
department of this vast knowledge that remained 
unopened because of no demand. The thoughtful 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


mind must answer, No! He deals with minds that, 
taken together, have all the capabilities of his own 
vast development. In view, then, of the preparation 
that could be utilized, the groove of the teacher is 
bounded on all sides by the distant wall of the 
infinite. 

Secondly. It is not narrow, because of its demand 
upon the original thought and invention ’of the 
teacher. J. Gr. Holland writes : 

Artists are few, 

Teachers are many, and the world is large. 

Artists are nearest God. Into their souls 
He breathes his life, and from their hand it comes 
In fair articulate forms to bless the world; 

And yet these forms may never bless the world 
Except its teachers take them in their hands 
And give each man his portion. 

We agree that the teacher’s work is primarily to 
instruct, a continual giving that never impoverishes ; 
but we claim for him also the ‘higher power of the 
artist, and that, too, in every department of school 
work. Take the lowest grade, where the objection 
of narrowness would seem to have most force. Look, 
teacher or theorizer, into those trusting, up-turned 
faces, with expressions as varied as the flashings of 
rainbow-tinted light upon the waters, and ask, who 
can comprehend a child’s mind or know the secrets 


Teachers' Association. 


149 


of its first unfolding ? When have perfect methods 
been obtained for teaching the rudiments of lan- 
guage, or arithmetic, or geography, or reading? 
What are the facts ? We find to-day the best talent 
in the teachers’ ranks giving their attention to ele- 
mentary instruction, and the “end is not yet.” 
Every strong bound forward but reveals incentives 
to a yet more daring leap. Here are problems for 
solution, heights to which the ambitious may 
advance, solid granite upon which to carve a name ; 
nay, the figure is imperfect ; granite in future ages 
will crumble into dust, but he who lifts mankind 
into a nobler life, writes upon tablets more enduring 
than the rock. 

It is true there is the unavoidable routine of 
machinery, but with it there is a never ceasing 
call for invention, for close analysis, and for lucid 
explanation, for quick judgment and quick decis- 
ion ; there must be attention to detail, but even this 
has discipline, from which the ambitious need not 
shrink. 

Look at the philosopher’s life. What unswerv- 
ing attention to the minutest mental changes ; what 
years of patient induction ; what hours of careful 
analysis ! 

Look at the unceasing attention to petty detail 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


in the life of the astronomer, or that of the success- 
ful man of business. Trace back the history of 
the discovery of most of our scientific facts, and 
especially their utilization in the arts, and you will 
find the various pathways strewn with wearisome 
hours of hope deferred, disappointment, apparent 
failure, routine detail, and all this in the cause of 
science and “ the life that now is.” Yet who can say 
such lives were narrowed to a groove % What mean 
attention to elementary sounds, accurate pronun- 
ciation, rapid calculation in arithmetic, and reading 
guided by the understanding 3 O! teachers, sur- 
rounded by the things of sense, we plume our 
pinions for too low a flight, we rise not into the 
upper atmosphere to view the labor of our daily 
life. We are honored by our calling. It is mould- 
ing in the wax of immortality, teaching the germs 
of character that die not ; it is the formation of the 
habits of thoughts, stronger in after life than the 
powers of the will ; it is the sowing of seeds of dis- 
cipline, and who may estimate the reaping? 

Does some one mentally comment : O, yes, that 
may do for sentiment. It all looks very well upon 
paper. But when one has spent year after year in 
the round of reading, writing and arithmetic ; when 
“only a teacher”, seems to be the one reputation 


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151 


gained; when one realizes that the brown-stone 
mansions are not for his entertainment, and the 
elite ignore his existence; when the young minds 
so carefully instructed grow to manhood and wo- 
manhood, and pass as strangers, one is not very 
apt to be comforted by thinking of the spiritual 
tablets on which he has been writing, or the fashion- 
ing of immortal minds that forget so soon their bene- 
factors. W ell, my fellow-teachers, if I could have 
a quiet little talk with you when there were not so 
many present, I would say, if to speak the “open 
sesame” to the brown-stone fronts were the goal 
of your ambition, you had, indeed, missed your 
calling, and that was your present misfortune. I 
would ask you if, notwithstanding, you were not 
sure that you had the unlimited confidence and re- 
spect of the most cultured and worthiestfand noblest 
part of the community in which you have taught so 
long ; also, while some pupils might be unappreci- 
ative, if you could not number many who would 
treasure your name with love and reverence even 
through the dark valley? If you should answer 
both questions in the negative, I would say you had 
surely missed your calling, and that you might 
consider your teacher’s life as a failure. If you 
answered affirmatively, and yet saw in these facts 


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North-Easter n Ohio 


no comfort, I would reply, be sure your feet are in 
a groove; you are shutting from your soul the 
power of the invisible ; you are placing in the dust 
of earthly homage the ideal that should glorify the 
routine of your daily life. Either stop teaching or 
think — until to be “only a teacher” seems worthy 
the devotion of your life ; then, whether you teach 
one year or many, I believe in the eternal balancing 
you will be credited with all you strive to accom- 
plish, though you may have failed to place the 
fair articulate forms before the world. 

Thirdly. The teacher’s vocation is not a narrow 
one, because of its influence upon civilization and 
the political welfare of the world. I regret my time 
will permit me to linger here but a moment. It can 
no longer be said that the destinies of thrones or 
empires lie at the bayonet’s point or despot’s bid- 
ding. The only guaranty of success rests upon 
education. Schools are now the strife among the 
nations, and the intelligent ballot is the guardian 
of liberty. 

From an unknown author I copy the following : 

In Prussia the Minister of Public Education 
has ever stood on an equality with her Minister of 
War. Her common schools have created her su- 
premacy in Germany, and our example has taught 


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153 


mankind that knowledge should be free as the air 
we breathe or the light of heaven. 

“ Thrust out from manly interests,” indeed? 
rather is he thrust into their very midst, and 
around him centre the dearest liberties of man- 
kind — the success of the present — the promise for 
the future. 

Lastly. In its moral effect upon teacher and 
pupil the teacher’s profession is not a groove. We 
deny the “three times as much low work as high 
work.” There may be stubbornness, and stupidity, 
and malice to contend with, but unless the teacher 
allows these evil spirits to enter his heart, they can 
never belittle nor degrade it. There may be hours 
of sorrow, hours of earnest supplication for strength 
above the human, but sorrow is elevating since it is 
the offspring of unselfish love. There may be sleep- 
less nights and prayers for wisdom, but every throe 
of anguish is the lifting to a higher life, the chiseling 
of fairer lineaments upon the soul.. The purest life 
the world has ever seen was one long contest with 
ignorance and bitterest malice. I recall an incident 
told me by a lady concerning her experience when 
teaching in one of the grammar schools of Chicago. 
One term a boy entered her school who soon revealed 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


himself to be persistently unruly and wilfully demor- 
alizing in his influence. Patiently, earnestly, deter- 
minedly she studied to control him and lead him 
to conquer himself, but with no apparent success. 
Every gentler device having failed to make a lasting 
impression on his mind, but on the contrary, seem- 
ing to arouse to greater endeavor the demon of his 
nature, the rod was tried, but unavailingly. One 
day when the disobedient spirit had broken out 
afresh, the teacher felt the last resort was reached, 
namely, expulsion, and the boy must go forth to 
his inevitably downward career. A new suggestion 
entered her mind. With no time for consideration, 
she proceeded to action. The boy was summoned 
to the platform. Taking the ferrule from the desk, 
the teacher addressed him, as nearly as I can recall, 
as follows: “John, you have done wrong again, 
and for every wrong some one must suffer. It is 
always so before any one can be forgiven. You 
have disobeyed many times and I have had to make 
you suffer ; and still you forget your own word and 
do wrong again and again. This time I will bear 
the pain and you may strike.” She handed him 
the ferrule, which the boy took, with an ugly scowl, 
while the scholars seemed breathless in their silence. 
He struck the hand firmly extended, a blow, with all 


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155 


his might. It was a cruel blow, making every nerve 
in her body quiver in pain, but the greatest pain 
was at her heart, for the boy was not conquered. 
She paused only a moment. Sobs were heard from 
all parts of the room. “ John, that was a hard blow ; 
it has caused a great deal of pain, but it is not 
enough to cancel your wrong ; strike again.” The 
boy partly raised his arm, but it sank at his side ; 
his head was averted, and the first tear she had ever 
seen from his eyes coursed down his cheeks. The 
evil spirit was subdued. The boy’ s whole demeanor 
in school was changed, and he afterward proved him- 
self a friend. This is a single instance — a contest 
with extreme stubbornness and malice. Yet who 
can say that teacher was belittled in the eyes of that 
school — in the eyes of men — in the eye of God. 
Nay, rather was it not ennobling, even to the like- 
ness of the Heavenly Master who suffered, the just 
for the unjust, to bring us to God. 

The teacher’s profession does not declare, in so 
many words, “My object is to bring the soul from 
the darkness of sin into the light of a Saviour’ s for- 
giveness,” but from the very necessities of the case 
much of immortal destiny will be required at the 
instructor’s hand. This is the grandest fact of the 
teacher’s life. Let us grasp it; let it fill our souls 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


with light ; let it fringe with radiance every cloud of 
disappointment, weariness and care ; let it be the 
earnest of our richest compensations ; and if before 
its responsibility we cry out, ‘ ‘ Who is sufficient for 
these things?” the answer of the inspired writer is 
ready for our comfort, “Our sufficiency is of God.” 


PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS. 

BY E. F. MOULTON, OBERLIN. 

In discussing this question of promotions, the 
proposition that the pupil, having performed the 
work of the preceding grade thoroughly and well, 
should receive promotion to the next higher grade, 
is fundamental. 

Corollary to this proposition is the fact that 
having done well the work of the preceding grade 
is sufficient evidence that he is capable of success- 
fully doing the work in the succeeding grade. 

Involved in these statements are the questions : 

The quantity of the work required. 

The quality of the work required. 

The character of the work required. 

The time required to do the work. 




Teachers' Association. 


157 


Subordinate to these questions is another ques- 
tion, as to what are the best means of determining 
whether or not the pupil has accomplished his 
work in a manner to justify his promotion, on the 
basis I have laid down. I take it for granted that 
all admit the truth of the proposition, that if the 
work of one grade has been well done, the pupils 
are prepared for the next, and deserve promotion. 
But whether the pupils have been able to do the 
work well depends entirely upon how much work 
they have been obliged to do in a given time, what 
kind of work has been given them to perform, and 
how well they are required to perform it. There is 
a certain amount of mental labor that the average 
child mind can master successfully, beyond this 
limit the scholar should not be urged. To require 
too much mental effort on the part of the child is 
more perilous to successful study in the future than 
to require too little effort in this direction. 

Every teacher of experience has known cases of 
pupils who, in one grade, have stood at the head of 
the school in their almost perfect scholarship, that 
in the next grade, or the next, have fallen back 
among the poorest scholars in the school, simply 
because of overwork in the previous grade. We 
all know that nervous energy can be kept up on a 


158 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


high tension only for a time. After every mental 
strain there must come a relapse ; nervous exhaus- 
tion will take place. Hence, by keeping the child’ s 
mind on a high nervous strain from day to day the 
year round, as is the case in many schools, with 
many of the pupils, it becomes weakened, and the 
whole object of the child’s education is thwarted 
early in life. Giving the children too much to do 
in school not infrequently discourages them in the 
beginning of their course. Thus they form a dis- 
taste for study and shirk their work, and when 
weighed in the balance for promotion are found 
wanting. 

It is important, then, in order to have our pupils 
well prepared for promotion, that we do not lay out 
so much work in our course of study as to overwork 
them, to discourage them, or oblige them to do it 
superficially ; but rather to make the amount com- 
mensurate with the time and the average ability of 
the youth in our schools. 

There is a quite general complaint among teach- 
ers — and probably not without reason — that they 
are obliged to teach too many things to teach any 
of them well ; that the labor of their pupils, 
(although they believe in a division of labor,) is 
divided into so many parts as to confuse their 


Teachers’ Association. 


159 


minds, obstruct their progress, and prevent the 
results expected of them at the close of the month, 
term or year; that for this reason, also, many of 
their pupils fail of promotion. 

If we look over the course of study and the 
programme of daily work in most of our graded 
schools, we shall find from six to ten different 
branches of study to which we require our pupils 
to give their attention during the five or six hours of 
the day they are expected to be in the school room ; 
sufficient, indeed, to confuse the adult mind of the 
teacher who has a knowledge of each branch. How 
much more confusing to the child who is learning 
for the first time the elementary principles of all the 
branches. 

In fact the young mind is apparently loaded with 
a variety of subjects that would befog the oldest and 
clearest heads. Yet the pupils are expected to have 
clear and definite ideas on all these subjects, and 
bear the test of the examiner’ s probe ; and, if found 
deficient in any particular, fail of obtaining the 
object for which they have struggled for a year. Is it 
surprising that when the scholars see that they must 
wade through this same multifarious work for an- 
other year, and perhaps with the same result, that 
they fall out of school altogether? If, then, the 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


quantity and character of our work are any way 
responsible for evil results in this direction, should 
we not consider the matter and introduce the proper 
remedies ? 

In regard to the quality of the work required, I 
suppose there is but one opinion, and that is, that it 
should be the very best — thorough, clear and accu- 
rate. This is the only kind of work that gives 
culture, power and strength to the mind, and ena- 
bles it to grasp and make its own the great questions 
of science and art that are within the reach of every 
boy and girl in our public schools. A true culture 
and discipline of mind are the things that will best 
prepare our scholars for what is above and beyond 
them, and evidently is the true basis of promotions. 

Time. — I am well satisfied that regular promo- 
tions should not take place oftener than once a year, 
for the following reasons: First. No part of our 
elementary school work can be satisfactorily accom- 
plished in a less time than this. Secondly. Any less 
time would cause an interruption in the work of the 
teacher and scholar that would be a detriment to 
both. Thirdly. It would necessitate a change of 
teachers, which would greatly retard efficient work 
in our schools. 

These numberless changes and interruptions to 


i 


Teachers' Association. 


161 


which the school work would be subject, could 
hardly be compensated for by any advantage a 
system of more frequent promotions might inaugu- 
rate. It certainly would be an advantage to a pupil 
who should fail of promotion, not to be kept back 
in his work for but one term, providing, however, 
that it was not necessary for him to go over only the 
work of the preceding term ; otherwise it would be 
a disadvantage. I doubt, indeed, whether we would 
be justified to accept any change of time of regular 
promotion for the benefit of the delinquent scholar, 
if, at the same time, it would be in any respect 
a disadvantage to the majority of the pupils in the 
school. At least it would not be utilitarian — the 
greatest good to the greatest number. There is rea- 
son to believe that very many more would fail of 
promotion if the time were shortened. In a year 
there is time to accomplish a special work which 
could only be begun in a term ; time for the teacher 
to become acquainted with her pupils, to understand 
their natures, their capacities for mental labor, their 
aptitude to learn — in a word, their strength and their 
weaknesses. I consider this very important, and 
feel that a teacher must have this acquaintance with 
and knowledge of her pupils before she can do her 
whole duty efficiently and well. It is also of quiet 


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'Korlh-Easlern Ohio 


as much importance for the pupils to know the 
teacher and understand her, before they can do 
their work without restraint. 

The hurry, excitement and consequent confusion 
a school must be in under the pressure of constant 
preparation for promotion, must be derogatory to 
its highest interests. 

If there is need of reform in our system of pro- 
motions, it surely is not in a change of time. The 
time, as now established in most of our schools, 
seems the most natural, most convenient and best 
adapted to our system of public school instruction 
of any that has ever as yet been recommended. 

I have been speaking thus far of regular promo- 
tions, which pertain to the whole school. There are 
cases of individual scholars for whom we should 
make exceptions; persons who, because of their 
unusual natural ability, or early training at home, 
or of their more advanced age, may be able to do 
the work in less time than the average pupil. For 
this class of scholars, which are fortunately, or 
unfortunately, rare, there should be an invariable 
rule, which would be to promote them whenever 
the teacher and superintendent were convinced they 
had done the work well, and had received the full 
discipline of the grade they were in, thus being 


Teachers' Association. 


prepared for the work of the next higher grade. As I 
have hinted, this class of persons is not numerous ; 
the average ability of children is more uniform than 
people are accustomed to think ; yet numerous 
enough, perhaps, to make trouble in grading 
schools. I would place them under exceptions, and 
promote them when prepared. 

In consideration, then, of the large amount of 
work we are requiring of all our scholars in the 
different grades of our public schools, of the many 
and various things we are trying to teach them, of 
the high standard of scholarship every ambitious 
teacher desires her school to reach, and of the 
limited time the pupils have for the accomplish- 
ment of so much mental labor, is it not possible 
that in our ambition to have a full, comprehensive 
and what may be called a fine course of study, to 
present to our patrons and friends, we have over- 
reached the physical and mental capacity and 
strength of the children and youth of our genera- 
tion, and that we ourselves are in a measure respon- 
sible for the failures of pupils to reach the standard 
of scholarship which shall gain them promotion X 
Investigation in this direction could do no harm, 
and might give us the key to the whole question 
under discussion. 


164 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


If a knowledge of the work in one grade, and 
the discipline that the gaining of this knowledge 
ought to give to the mind of the pupil, are to "be the 
condition of promotion, then surely it is the busi- 
ness of the educator to prepare only such work, in 
quantity and character, as comes within the limit 
of the ability of the average pupil. We all know 
that education is not having the mind crammed 
with facts, or in having a certain knowledge of a 
good many things, but rather in understanding well 
the great principles underlying all facts, and the 
discipline obtained from the study of these prin- 
ciples. Consequently, I say, if the pupil has done 
well this kind of work in the preceding grade, if 
his intellectual faculties have been properly devel- 
oped, that this is sufficient evidence of his ability to 
do the work in the next higher grade ; providing, 
of course, that the work of the next higher grade 
naturally follows the work he has already accom- 
plished. 

I know of no other safe basis of promotion than 
this. Closely connected with this arises the question 
of how shall we determine the fact that the pupil has 
done his work thoroughly, and obtained the proper 
discipline of mind to justify his promotion. I would 
recommend that this be determined in three ways. 


Teachei's’ pissocialion. 


165 


First. That the conviction and recommendation 
of the teacher guide the superintendent in his decis- 
ion. The child’s teacher, who has had him under 
her eye, in her care, and is more or less responsible 
for his educational status; who has watched his 
mental growth from day to day and month to 
month ; who understands his habits of study, and 
knows better than any one else can, whether he has 
done the work of the year well and is prepared for 
the next, should, in a large degree at least, deter- 
mine his promotion. It will probably be said the 
teacher is too much interested to render an unbiased 
opinion in regard to a matter that involves to a large 
extent her own reputation, as well as that of her 
pupils. I would claim that she is too much inter- 
ested to render any other than an unbiased opinion 
and give her honest conviction. It certainly would 
be much more to her discredit to give a class into 
the hands of another teacher, unprepared for the 
work before them, than to say at once, “Many of 
my pupils have not been able to do the work laid 
out for them. I may be to blame, but I have done 
the best I could under the circumstances.” 

Again, a teacher could not well have in charge a 
class of pupils for a year or more without becoming 
personally interested in their welfare, so much so 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


that she would not be willing to have them go for- 
ward or remain back unless she honestly thought it 
would be for their highest good, educationally. This 
knowledge and interest must render the teacher 
eminently fit to judge impartially and with much 
wisdom in a case of so vital importance to her 
pupils. I believe in the “eternal fitness of things,” 
especially of this thing. 

Secondly. As another means of determining the 
student’s fitness for promotion, I would recommend 
that a daily record of the pupils’ recitations be kept 
by the teacher, and presented as an aid in deciding 
this question, fraught with so much importance 
to the parties interested. I am well aware I am 
treading on dangerous ground here. I presume 
I am alone in my convictions on this point, and 
am laying myself liable to the appellation of 
fossil or fogy. Nevertheless, my opinion is hon- 
est, and I do not propose to give up a system 
that has served me better than any and all other 
schemes that have been substituted for it, in 
showing me just what my teachers and pupils are 
doing every day, from term to term, and in stimu- 
lating both teachers and scholars to earnest and 
faithful labor. I claim for the daily marking system 
what others claim for the monthly examination, with 


Teachers' Association. 


167 


the advantage of its being daily instead of monthly ; 
with this other advantage that we get the real work 
of the school, and not the work of a spasmodic effort 
of teacher and scholar for a specific purpose. When 
in doubt in regard to what to do in a not very clear 
case for promotion, there is nothing that aids me so 
much in coming to a just and proper decision as to 
examine the daily record of the pupil for the year. 

Thirdly. While I should use the daily record, 
I would not give up examinations ; I believe they 
answer a purpose for which nothing can be substi- 
tuted. I would recommend examinations as a third 
means of deciding the applicant’s fitness for promo- 
tion. With the daily record examinations would 
not necessarily be as frequent as without it. I did 
think of discussing this subject of examinations to 
some extent, but I prefer not to draw the attention 
of this Association from the main topic under dis- 
cussion, which is much the more important question 
to decide at the present time. 

Then, as means of determining the fitness of a 
class for promotion, I recapitulate : 

1. The teacher’s judgment. 

2. The teacher’s daily record. 

3. The examinations by the superintendent, or 
proper committee, of every pupil. 


168 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


If the examinations were monthly, I would take 
the average for the year ; one examination at the 
close of the year would not be a sufficient test. 

There is a practical question, in this connection, 
which was suggested by the lady Assistant Super- 
intendent of the schools of Cleveland, when the 
question of promotions was first brought before this 
Association : what shall we do with pupils who, 
having gained promotion, fail to do the work of the 
grade to which they have been promoted ? I would 
add the question of what shall we do with those 
who fail of promotion? I am unable to answer 
either of these questions satisfactorily to myself, 
though having many to dispose of from time to 
time. 

Our rule, in the first case, is to put them back 
into the grades from which they were promoted ; in 
the second case, to let them remain where they are 
and go over the work a second time. The result, in 
either case, for the most part, is the withdrawal of 
the pupils from school by indignant parents ; some 
to the street, where they are educated for another 
kind of school, sustained at public expense, others 
to private schools, which are for the most part 
misnomers. 

In my experience I find that of those who are 


Teachers' Association. 169 

♦ 

“demoted” and those who fail of promotion, not 
more than half remain in school, and generally their 
education ends there ; of course those who remain 
in the schools, some, from a feeling that they have 
done the work once, or from being discouraged, fail 
to apply themselves, and end the second year with 
the same result as the first ; surely it is that not one 
out of three ever succeed as scholars. I have tried 
various experiments to keep this class of pupils up 
in their grade. I have, had teachers give them a 
few minutes of personal attention while the other 
pupils were studying, and with this help they have 
often been able to go on with their class. Where 
there have been quite a number, I have had them 
formed into delinquent classes, giving them the 
opportunity, in this way, of regaining what they 
had lost. I have had some success in . visiting 
parents, or by having them come to my office, in 
interesting them in behalf of their children, and by 
their authority securing some study at home during 
evenings. 

In the case of those who fail of promotion in some 
one or two studies, I promote them on the condition 
that they shall, during the long vacation, make up 
what they have failed to get, and sustain an exam- 
ination at the commencement of the Fall term. In 


170 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


this way many have been saved, with much extra 
trouble, of course, on the part of the teacher and 
myself. But how great the compensation, if we have 
saved a boy or girl from growing up in ignorance, 
and from its usual attendant results. 

I am feeling more and more each day, as I 
understand the value of pure, noble and unselfish 
manhood and womanhood in our land, that it is a 
fearful responsibility for superintendents or teachers 
to be the direct or indirect cause of putting our 
youth into the street at an early age, when they are 
susceptible of its worst influences. By doing this, 
we may raise the standard of scholarship in our 
schools, but if it is at the expense of ruined morals, 
ruined manhood, and ruined souls, the compensa- 
tion is too small. 

The demand of the hour is not to press our girls 
and boys out of the schools by work beyond their 
physical and mental powers, but rather to open wide 
the doors of our public schools to all classes, and 
even to bring them in by the strong arm of the law. 
As educators, we must answer this demand. It is 
imperative. 


Teachers' Association. 


•171 


HONOR-MEN. 

BY MISS ELLEN A. DARLING, WARREN. 

The spirit of contradiction is abroad in the land. 
Modest, sensitive and reverential people are some- 
what surprised at, and fearful of, the apparition. 
Polite people (that is, those who are polite and 
nothing more) call it by polite names. Would-be 
profound people meet it by day and by night, with 
a manner of recognition, intended to be familiar and 
easy, yet in which the close observer may perceive 
something of anxiety, if not of positive alarm. But 
it is reserved to the fledgeling philosopher, and mis- 
anthropic youth of nineteen, fully to justify its 
character and carry forward its mission. Judging 
by the results of its advent, the former would appear 
to be that of a disbeliever in everything popularly 
supposed to be true ; the latter the upbuilding and 
maintenance of everything new, because unlikely 
and opposing. As displayed by its imbibers, it 
would seem to possess great impartiality. Their 
attacks are made indiscriminately upon everything 
which is asserted by any class, sect, trade, profession 
or fraternity in existence. The main object which 


172 


'North-Easier n Ohio 


these nondescript revolutionists seem to have pro- 
posed to themselves is to prove that whatever is, is 
not. They have up-hill work at the best, and it is, 
perhaps, ungenerous to attempt adding anything to 
their task ; but they have grievously offended of late 
by their assaults upon the honor-men of our schools 
and colleges, and the time may have come at least 
to parry their merciless strokes. 

It is not asserted that injustice is shown in 
awarding these honors. Good scholarship ranks 
everything in the school, and this, we know, is 
rarely maintained through a full course of study 
without the accompaniments of persevering indus- 
try and good morals. Excepting the rare cases in 
which this is not true, and the honor-men enter 
upon their career a little in advance of their class- 
mates, so far as their school preparation is con- 
cerned. Therefore when we are told that under 
their names upon the commencement programme 
might as well be written, “Positively no re-appear- 
ance,” our first inquiry is in regard to the truth of 
the assertion. Having neither facts nor figures (in 
sufficient numbers) to prove the contrary, we shall 
be compelled to admit the statement in our argu- 
ment . For ourselves individually, however, we 
must reserve the right to intrench us after the 


Teachers’ Association. 


173 


manner of the heroine in one of Mrs. Stowe’ s novels, 
who declared, in regard to a disputed point, that 
she didn’t believe it, and she didn’t intend to 
believe it — a position which, the author comments, 
“no sensible person who understands human nature 
will ever attempt to controvert.” But, returning 
to the charge, what shall we say of these alleged 
obscure and unimportant careers. In estimating 
success, we must first understand what end was 
proposed. The merchant’s clerk does not, with 
justice, call the well-doing tinner’s apprentice a 
failure. A bricklayer is not blamed for the unfin- 
ished work of the carpenter ; and the surgeon does 
not arraign the clergyman for inability to set a 
broken bone, but for lack of tact or wisdom in 
ministering to a mind diseased. The only vantage 
ground which the honor spoken (or tacitly acknowl- 
edged) grants to its recipient, is that of superior 
scholarship. That is the token which his course 
thus far has given to the world. He may, or may 
not, possess a fine physical organization, winning 
manners and charming conversational powers. He 
may have sensitive or steady nerves, be sympathetic 
or apathetic, bold or timid, impatient or apt to wait 
the revelations of “time, the wonder-worker.” In 
the different professions and occupations commonly 


174 


North- Eastern Ohio 


chosen by educated, cultured men, it is well known 
that any one of these qualities, and many others, 
have as much to do with failure or success as good 
or poor scholarship. But in the verdict delivered 
upon the honor-men by a jury composed of those 
who robbed the defendants of rest and recreation to 
translate their Greek and write their abstracts, the 
standard is an eminent position in some calling then 
totally untried. Is this the proper test? Or is it 
candid and just judgment to approve or condemn 
one according to that which he hath and not accord- 
ing to that which he hath not. Not that we would 
excuse our honorable ones for neglecting to use any 
gift or grace conferred upon them, but only that it 
should not be required to wrest some other equal or 
greater honor from the world to avoid the sneer on 
account of that already awarded. 

Admitting what has been claimed by the afore- 
mentioned race of philosophers — that scripture is 
fulfilled, that the last are first and the first last, 
that the honor-men of the school and college are 
least esteemed beyond the classic shades — we natur- 
ally inquire, “Is it worth while to aspire to such 
preferment? Is there danger in holding out such 
rewards? Does the winner of the prize conclude 
that having gained this , he has only to rest on his 


Teachers' plssociaiio?i. 


175 


oars and steadily float toward the haven of certain 
success? This might be in solitary cases, but the 
error would soon be discovered. And where no 
public recognition of superiority is made, the effect 
is essentially the same ; for the admiration of school- 
mates and the approval of teachers are more sub- 
tle, and consequently more precious flattery to the 
aspiring pupil than noisy applause and greenhouse 
trophies. Finding no other adequate reason why 
the honor-men make but indifferent lawyers, third- 
rate clergymen and shabby professors, we are com- 
pelled to conclude that their disability arises either 
from the amount of the attainments themselves, or 
from a taste for study which renders the necessary 
application to other pursuits irksome. Not imagin- 
ing it possible for any to see peril for their future 
career in the former, we must accept the latter as 
the full explanation of their inconsequential lives. 
Therefore, as teachers, it may become us to inquire 
whether, by stimulating our talented pupils, we are 
not wronging society. Robbing the professions and 
the mercantile world of their possible ornaments, 
are we entitled even to the rank of private benefac- 
tors, or are we imitating the vices of the prince of 
highwaymen without his redeeming qualities. 

“These close students are always impractical,” 
is almost too familiar a remark to need quotation. 


176 


North-Easter n Ohio 


But compelled to do battle upon ground of the 
enemy’s choosing, and leaving unused our best 
artillery, we must, if possible, understand at least 
the range of the hostile guns. Begging pardon of 
all who make solemn affirmation only with right 
hands upon the dictionary, we must first define 
the word impractical. As used in this connection, 
and shorn of all figures of speech, the meaning 
is simply this — not producing money. Terms — 
strictly cash, of your own finding — is the one un- 
varying challenge to all who demand the honors of 
a practical career. Does society need any except 
practical men? Not can it endure, can it support, 
but does it need? Are men of broad culture and 
varied intelligence of no weight in the estimation of 
any fashionable community or class? Are men of 
calm and ripened judgment so numerous that we 
can afford to depreciate their value and diminish 
their numbers? Do the students of nature and of 
art dwell on a plane so much below that of the 
busy world around them that we can look down 
upon their labors? Who reason without prejudice 
and speak without fear upon the great social and 
political questions? . Who are the prophets, the 
inspired men, telling us of the glory which hu- 
manity yet shall see? Whose are the ears that 
catch the first faint sounds from liberty’s bugle? 


Teachers ’ Association. 


177 


Whose are the eyes that see the first pale tints of 
the rainbow of peace and love which must yet 
span the heavens? Not the practical man, but the 
scholar, with his musty books and busy brain ; 
the philosopher, with his theories ; the dreamy 
student of art, with his unbusiness-like gait and 
reckless schemes; the poet, with his hollow eyes 
and hollower purse; perhaps a few American wo- 
men, with their bloodless lips and curving spines. 

In some enlightened lands it has been deemed 
wise to make provision, at state expense, for the 
support of men who are thus enabled to devote 
their time to study. It may be wise for those 
nations ; we offer no criticism. But with our 
present national debt, and the politicians upon our 
hands, it would hardly be prudent for us to imitate 
their method. But could we not afford, without 
wronging any, to give them the benefit of good 
countenance ? 

Luscious fruits and fragrant spices, ripened be- 
neath the tropica] suns, costly fabrics, with their 
wondrous hues, from far-off looms, pearls from the 
ocean, gold of the mountains, gems from the mines, 
are beautiful and excellent, but are they all that 
is worth our striving? Would we make our land 
only a centre of trade, of opulence and luxury ; our 


178 


North-Eastern Ohio 


social life merely the complimentary exchange of 
pasteboard and bon-bons ? Deeper than his gleam- 
ing jewels has God hidden the wondrous secret of 
their creation. More marvelous his sunlight than 
any of its imprisoned tints which men have stolen. 
There are truths lying hid at more dangerous depths 
than those from which the fainting pearl-diver comes 
with his doubtful prize. More curious the secrets 
of animal and vegetable life than anything of their 
substance which the skill of men has wrought into 
artful shapes of beauty and use. Shall we yield all 
our homage to the winner of the material wealth, 
and reserve, at best, only our pity for those who by 
searching have gained at least a clew to the Crea- 
tor s meaning ? There is sometimes a fear expressed 
that much learning makes its possessor mad. Is 
the real danger here or in the little draughts from 
wisdom’s overflowing fountains? No doubt many a 
man who has studied long and thought profoundly 
has, meantime, scoffed at the sublimest truths ; was 
it knowledge of other subjects, orignorance of these, 
which compelled him to such a course ? 

Does the astronomer, reaching out to the stars, 
measuring their distances, noting the perfect har- 
mony of their movements and the marvelous balanc- 
ing in their relative positions, talk of the chance 


Teachers' Association. 


179 


which ordained these, because of what he has learn- 
ed? Does the geologist, exploring the regions of 
earth’s treasures, hidden for the service of man, 
talk of a Creator too vast in his concerns to care for 
his creatures, in consequence of the knowledge of 
these sure witnesses to eternal thought and unceas- 
ing beneficence ? Is it because of his superior intelli- 
gence that the zoologist, seeing the perfect adaptation 
of the lower animals to their elements and climates, 
the skill with which they provide for their own safety, 
comfort and sustenance, sneers at the faith of those 
who joyfully believe that not a sparrow falls to the 
ground without the Father’s notice? Living among 
the delicate colors and more delicate odors of leaf 
and blossom, does the botanist smile in derision at 
our loving remembrance of the promise that even as 
He taketh thought for the lilies so shall He remem- 
ber us ? Struggling alway with the bonds of time and 
sense, do the philosopher and the poet cavil at that 
hope which reaches beyond this life and fondly 
trusts the realization of its noblest desires in one 
that is yet to be. If they do, is it because of wis- 
dom overmuch ; is it not rather because of ignorance 
of that which they slight? Not through learning, 
but in spite of it ; not intellect cultivated and devel- 
oped, but reason shackled by prejudice; not large 


180 


North-Eastern Ohio 


attainments, but pride of success ; not contact with 
God’ s works, but rebellion against His government, 
make atheists and infidels of the learned as well as 
the foolish. God hath made all perfect in its time 
and place. Let us not fear, not scruple to take all 
of His wisdom which He has given us strength to 
grasp. 

There is another class whose fears and sympathies 
are much aroused by the danger that culture will 
degenerate into mere intellectual dyspepsia. For 
misers and gluttons of all varieties, it would be 
difficult to frame any sufficient apology. Any one 
who is merely receptive, taking much and giving 
nothing, is only a drone, an encumbrance, whatever 
may be his professed field of labor. Hoarded mental 
wealth is no more credit to the possessor than the 
crowded vaults of the man rich in gold are to their 
owner. It certainly remains, however, to be proved 
that the man endowed with superior intellectual 
ability, is any more likely to render his acquisitions 
useless to the world than the same man would have 
been had his talent been any other. In the multi- 
tude of counsel there is safety, and despising no 
man’s wisdom/learning even of the humblest, is it 
not wise to believe that our own gifts may be also a 
criterion to guide us in the choice of our pursuits? 


Teachers' Association. 


181 


May not even the despised honor-men safely trust 
that He who gave them the powers which they 
possess, and withheld others, will also give them the 
way and the spirit rightly to employ them. Honor- 
men we say to-day, which we should not have 
ventured a year ago. But it is only unassured 
position that is sensitive in regard to recognition, 
and we know that in all which has been said, every 
woman whose name is on the same roll of honor, 
will understand our meaning and echo our senti- 
ment, 4 4 much more we.” Many centuries have 
elapsed since the grave old monk, after years of 
patient study and profound meditation, evolved the 
then startling truth that 4 4 women were a part of the 
human race and like men, redeemed by the blood of 
Christ.” (Some people are never satisfied unless 
they can carry all their notions to extremes.) Much 
thought has been expended on the same subject 
since his time, and now it has become unfashionable 
to talk of their intellectual inferiority. We appre- 
ciate the gallantry with which the leaders have 
hushed, to an almost inaudible murmur, this once 
popular war-cry. We admire also the grace with 
which they have fallen back upon the uncontested 
ground of stronger muscle and more enduring nerve. 
Likewise, when we are told that thus far brute force 


182 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


lias ruled the world, we are dumb before the great 
preponderance of truth in the statement. But 
when coupled with this we receive the assurance 
that such must always be the fact, we are compelled 
to hope that in the character of seers our inform- 
ants may prove less reliable than in that of histori- 
ans. But it would ill become us to be ungenerous 
toward such magnanimous opponents. Pioneer 
workmen have done it mainly alone and too well to 
make any other willing to attempt a rivalship. There- 
fore into this uncleared field of prejudice we must 
hope that they will lead the way. And despite the 
warnings of the doctors of medicine and the grave 
doubts of the doctors of theology, the record of wo- 
man will be changed if her only question is not, 
whither ? before she will follow with eager pace brave 
leading to another reform in public sentiment. 


Teachers' tfissocialion. 


183 


HEALTH IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

BY B. A. HINSDALE, A. M., 

PRESIDENT OF HIRAM COLLEGE. 

Perhaps the best introduction to this paper will 
be a brief account of the way it came to be written. 

At the last meeting of this Association, held in 
Warren in June, it was stated, in one of the papers 
read, that excessive demands in the way of study 
were a pronounced tendency of the public schools. 
In the discussion that followed, this statement was 
challenged. It was admitted on all hands that the 
charge is a very common one ; but it was claimed, 
on one side, that it has no foundation in fact, but is a 
sort of cant afloat in the air, while it was insisted, on 
on the other, that the charge is true. Out of this 
discussion, which was quite an animated one, grew 
a motion that I should prepare a paper on the sub- 
ject, to be read at this meeting. Before this motion 
was put to vote, I declined to undertake the task, if 
it were understood that I was to confine myself to 
the main question, but signified a willingness to do 
so if allowed to discuss some of its general bearings. 
With this understanding the motion carried, and the 
appointment was accepted. 


184 


North-Easter n Ohio 


In redeeming my promise, let me, first of all, call 
attention to the fact, that excessive demands in the 
way of study is a constant and emphatic charge 
against the public schools. Two classes of wit- 
nesses, especially, are pretty unanimous in their 
testimony on this point. The first class consists of 
those newspaper writers and magazinists who have 
occasion, from time to time, to discuss our public 
education. What startling pictures these draw, 
every now and then ! As a specimen of their work, 
though it is quite mild in tone, I make an extract 
from the “ Editor’s Table’’ of a late number of the 
Ladies ’ Repository , found under the expressive 
head, Cruelty to School Children”: 

Though old modes are abandoned, we are of 
opinion that school teachers still practice cruelties 
on the sensitive nature of childhood as severe as 
those of the cherry, oak, birch and rawhide dis- 
pensation. Sarcasm and ridicule can be made as 
terrible weapons, and can inflict as savage wounds, 
as the ruler or rattan. The competitive system — 
studying for rank and marks and promotion — has 
its martyrs as well as the rod. In these days school 
curriculums are overloaded, scholars are overtasked, 
made to carry on more studies, and to study more 
hours than is good for the bodily health or for the 
due growth of the mind in strength and knowledge. 
Besides the six hours a day confinement in the 


Teachers' Association. 


185 


school room, teachers assign tasks for the pupils 
to con out of school under the eyes of their parents, 
thus abridging their hours of play and exercise, or 
robbing parents of the assistance of the children in 
the various services required in household manage- 
ment. Six hours a day ought to be the limit of 
attention to books with every child, during the 
period of growth, and those six ought to be bro- 
ken into periods of play and relaxation at due 
intervals. Assigning exercises for out-of-school 
hours should in no case be allowed, and keeping 
after school should be a punishment reserved for 
cases that require severe measures and stringent 
discipline. 

In general, we may suppose these literary people 
believe and feel what they say, at least for the time 
being. At the same time, however, it is clear that 
many of them are drawn to the subject by what we 
may call the newspaper sense. Slashing articles, on 
almost all subjects, are greedily read by the people. 
And then the picture of school children, with big 
heads and small bodies, full of nerves, without 
lymph or phlegm, thin-blooded and bow-legged, 
bending all day over books that are both too many 
and too hard, precocious as Paul Dombey, and 
going like him to an early grave, has great attrac- 
tions for the literateur who turns his attention to 


education. 


186 


Norik-Eastern Ohio 


The second class of persons is the medical pro- 
fession. Am I not within the bounds of truth when 
I say, that the great majority of practicing physi- 
cians, especially in the cities, hold the opinion that 
the burden of study laid on children in the schools 
is too heavy? And the doctors claim to have excep- 
tional opportunities for ascertaining the facts. Dr. 
E. H. Clarke, for example, says the places to study 
the effects of co-education are “the sick chamber, 
not the school room; the physician’s private con- 
sultation, not the committee’s public examination; 
the hospital, not the college, the workshop or the 
parlor.”* I do not charge the doctors with bring- 
ing a railing accusation against the teachers. In 
some respects their opportunities for getting at the 
facts are no doubt exceptionally good ; but they are 
peculiarly liable to fall into some fallacies that I 
shall have occasion to point out before this paper is 
concluded. 

On the other hand, teachers, as a class, are 
almost equally unanimous in denying that their 
pupils are overworked ; and they, too, claim that 
they have unequaled opportunities of finding out the 
truth. Whether teachers also are liable to fall into 
mistakes, will also come in my way to inquire. 


*Sex in Education, pp. 61-2 


Teachers 1 Association. 


187 


So far as the public mind is concerned, it is a 
good deal bewildered. Parents, when the question 
comes before them in a practical way, generally 
decide with the physician or the teacher, according 
as the pressure is more or less. 

In the meantime, the question at issue is one of 
immense importance. Our common schools are a 
growth of more than two hundred years. They 
have cost vast sums of money, and infinite pains ; 
with all their imperfections, they are a fair expres- 
sion of our average educational sense and culture. 
We have built them up for the most cogent and im- 
perative reasons; some intellectual, some political, 
some moral. We have intended them as a mighty 
instrument of improvement. Are they rather an 
instrument of deterioration? Is the health of our 
children breaking down under their school burdens? 
Is the American child-constitution unable to sup- 
port American school instruction as now organized ? 
Are our efforts to train the mind ruining the body ? 
If these questions are to be answered in the affirma- 
tive, we ought to know it, that we may re-adjust 
our system ; if in the negative, we ought to know 
it, that we may silence ignorant clamor. The ques- 
tion is all the more important, because there is so 
much reason to think that what I shall venture to 


188 


North-Eastern Ohio 


call the American race, is falling off in physical 
power. Before making such remarks as I have to 
offer on this point, let me guard myself against 
possible misapprehension. 

There is a class of persons who hold that the 
mind is built up at the expense of the body. They 
associate a high degree of physical power with a 
low degree of mental cultivation, and regard weak- 
ness and effeminacy as characteristics of a high 
civilization. This opinion I scout utterly. It is a 
part of that habit of mind which attributes such 
extraordinary virtues to the savage, as though the 
savage were not a weak and miserable creature the 
world over ! The famed Arabian steed, whose fleet- 
ness is proverbial, it is well known, is no match for 
the thorough-bred horse of the English or American 
turf : no more is the rude man of the woods, even 
in point of physical power and endurance, a match 
for the thorough-bred man of civilization. It would 
certainly be strange if God had given us a nature, 
one-half of which cannot be cultivated, save at the 
expense of the other half. Still, civilized peoples 
have often declined physically, as they will no 
doubt do again. This does not spring from any 
necessary connection between physical weakness 
and cultivated life, but rather from the vices of the 


Teachers' Association. 


189 


latter. But without elaborating this thought fur- 
ther, let me return to the statement that there is 
much reason to hold that the American people are 
exhibiting evidences of a decline in physical power. 

Those who hold that such is the fact, rest their 
proposition partly on the testimony of the medical 
profession, and partly on the vital statistics of the 
country. Under the latter head, for example, it has 
been ascertained that the number of children under 
a given age, say fifteen years, as compared with the 
number of women between fifteen and fifty, is con- 
stantly becoming smaller. The “ Circular of Inform- 
ation” sent out by the National Bureau of Education 
for March, 1872, along with other valuable matter 
from the same source, contains a table compiled from 
the Census Reports from 1800 to 1860, by Dr. J. M. 
Toner, a scholarly physician of a statistical turn of 
mind, that puts this subject in a clear light. In the 
state of Ohio, within that period, the falling off was 
more than fifty per cent. In the other states, the 
results were similar, though not in all cases so strik- 
ing. In a later publication, Dr. Toner returned 
to the subject, this time showing that, taking the 
country together, “in 1830 there were to every thou- 
sand marriageable women, one thousand nine hun- 
dred and fifty-two children under fifteen years of age. 


190 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


Ten years later, there were one thousand eight hun- 
dred and sixty-three, or eighty-nine less children 
to every thousand women than in 1830. In 1850, 
this number had declined to one thousand seven 
hundred and twenty ; in 1860, to one thousand six 
hundred and sixty-six ; and in 1870, to one thousand 
five hundred and sixty-eight. The total decline in 
the forty years was three hundred and eighty-four, 
or about twenty per cent, of the whole proportional 
number in 1830.* This startling .result is due prin- 
cipally to two causes. The first is an increasing 
mortality among children in the large cities, con- 
sequent upon over-crowding ; and the second, a 
diminishing birth-rate, consequent on a variety of 
causes, that need not be here mentioned. Under 
the first head, I desire to say, that about fifty per 
cent, of all children born in the large cities die before 
they reach the age of five ; and under the second, 
the diminishing birth-rate appears to point unmis- 
takably to a loss of vital power on the part of our 
people. 

Especially is it charged that American women 
are deteriorating physically. Unfortunately, this 
question, from being a matter of dry statistical 
inquiry, has become part of a heated controversy, 


* The Nation, No. 436. 


Teachers' Association. 


1 91 


from its supposed bearing on co-education, and it 
accordingly draws to itself some of that “ suffusion 
of the will and the affections’ ’ of which Bacon speaks 
in one of his writings. Keeping wide of this con- 
troversy, I feel bound to say that, from whatever 
cause, the charge against American women is well 
founded. 

Into the causes of this physical deterioration, I 
make no inquiry. Some Europeans are wont to say 
that our country does not supply the physical con- 
ditions of continued physical power and tone. Dr. 
Clarke seems to lend some countenance to this view, 
when he argues — 

No race of humankind has yet obtained a perma- 
nent foothold upon this continent. The Asiatics 
trace back their life in Asia so far that the distance 
between to-day and their recorded starting-point 
seems like a geological epoch. The descendants of 
the Ptolemies still linger about the Nile. The race 
that peopled northern Europe, when Greece and 
Rome were young, not only retains its ancient place 
and power, but makes itself felt and heard through- 
out the world. On this continent, races have been 
born, and lived, and disappeared. Mounds at the 
west, vestiges in Florida, and traces elsewhere, pro- 
claim at least two extinct races. The causes of their 
disappearance are undiscovered. We only know 
that they are gone. The Indian whom our ancestors 


192 


'Norlli-Easlern Ohio 


confronted, was losing liis hold on the continent 
when the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth Bay, 
and is now rapidly disappearing also. It remains 
to be seen if the Anglo-Saxon race, which has ven- 
tured upon a continent that has proved the tomb of 
antecedent races, can be more fortunate than they in 
maintaining a permanent grasp upon this western 
world. One thing, at least, is sure ; it will fail, as 
previous races have failed, unless it can produce a 
physique and a brain capable of meeting success- 
fully the demands that our climate and civilization 
make upon it.* 

Without either sanctioning this theory or pro- 
pounding any other, I would urge that the vital 
condition of our population, apart from any other 
considerations, furnishes abundant reason why we 
should investigate the relations of our public schools 
to the public health. 

Any really valuable inquiry into these relations 
must be strictly inductive. In this field, it is idle 
to theorize or speculate. Nothing but carefully 
observed and registered facts can guide us to satis- 
factory conclusions. It was for this reason that I 
declined, at Warren, to undertake a discussion of 
the main question. In the first place, I had no such 
experience as would enable me to speak with author- 
ity ; in the second place, I was not familiar with the 

* The Building of a Brain, pp. 13, 14. 


Teachers’ Association. 


193 


literature of the subject ; while it was impossible for 
me to make good either of these defects. What is 
more, I was then doubtful, as I still am, whether the 
data necessary for a general conclusion have been 
collected. This opinion is held, however, on nega- 
tive, rather than on positive, grounds. 

But while the inquiry must be strictly inductive, 
it is an induction attended by some peculiar diffi- 
culties. We sometimes go wild over a mass of facts. 
The truth is, facts are of little, if any value, until 
they have been sifted, classified, and interpreted by 
the intelligence. The Baconian method has not 
abolished theory; it has only placed it after the 
facts, not before them. Suppose it be charged that 
a large number of children in the schools are in 
poor health. This is a plain question of fact, and 
can be very easily determined. But the philosopher 
asks, what is the cause of this state of affairs \ All 
the facts ever gathered by the vital statistician, until 
interpreted by a philosopher, will never answer this 
question. It is a question not easily answered, and 
I must think that the great majority of teachers and 
parents, as well as many physicians, from want of 
the requisite powers and the habit of analysis, are 
incapable of the effort. It brings us into the field of 
cause and effect, that high region of thought where 


194 


North-Eastern Ohio 


so many and such serious mistakes are made in rea- 
soning. Without any logical discrimination of these 
mistakes, let me say, one of the most frequent and 
flagrant is this : to conclude, when one thing follows 
another, that the two stand in the relation of cause 
and effect ; thus confounding post hoc and propter 
hoc — a head under which more popular fallacies can 
be exhibited than under any other known to logic. 
For example, it has been observed that the ratio of 
the convicts in our prisons who cannot read and 
write, to those who can, is very great ; from which 
fact it has been inferred that illiteracy is the princi- 
pal cause of crime. That there is no such necessary 
relation, has been fully shown by Mr. Herbert Spen- 
cer in a passage which has taught one person, at 
least, to be slow, especially when reasoning on social 
affairs, to accept co-existence or consecutiveness of 
time as indicating cause and effect. Here is the 
passage : 

We have no evidence that education, as com- 
monly understood, is a preventive of crime. Those 
perpetually reiterated newspaper paragraphs, in 
which the ratios of instructed to uninstructed con- 
victs are so triumphantly stated, prove nothing. 
Before any inference can be drawn, it must be shown 
that these instructed and uninstructed convicts come 
from two equal sections of society, alike in all other 


Teachers' Association. 


195 


respects but that of knowledge — similar in rank 
and occupation, having similar advantages, laboring 
under similar temptations. But this is not only not 
the truth ; it is nothing like the truth. The many 
ignorant criminals belong to a most unfavorably cir- 
cumstanced class ; whilst the few educated ones are 
from a class comparatively favored. As things 
stand, it would be equally logical to infer that crime 
arises from going without animal food, or from 
living in badly ventilated rooms, or from wearing 
dirty shirts ; for were the inmates of a gaol to be 
catechized, it would doubtless be found that the 
majority of them had been placed in these conditions. 
Ignorance and crime are not cause and effect ; they 
are coinciding results of the same cause. To be 
wholly untaught is to have moved amongst those 
whose incentives to wrong-doing is strongest ; to be 
partially taught is to have been one of a class subject 
to less urgent temptations ; to be well taught is to 
have lived almost beyond the reach of the usual mo- 
tives for transgression. Ignorance, therefore, (at least 
inthe statistics referred to,) simply indicates the pres- 
sure of crime-producing influences, and can no more 
be called the cause of crime than the falling of a 
barometer can be called the cause of rain.* 

Ignorance may produce crime ; no doubt it does ; 
but that the crime found in our prisons is not imme- 
diately produced by it, Mr. Spencer certainly proves. 
Let us apply a similar analysis to the matter in hand. 


* Social Statics, pp. 379-80. 


196 


North-Eastern Ohio 


Let it be granted that an undue proportion of the 
pupils in the schools are breaking down in health. 
It does not follow that the causes will be found at 
school. School is only one element in the child’s 
life. He leads a home life besides, and very likely a 
social life into the bargain. How the cause of his 
loss of health may be at home, or in the social circle. 
His health may fail because he is badly fed or clothed, 
because he is overworked at home, because he spends 
too much time in society or on the streets ; it may be 
on account of one, or two, or all of these facts. 
Under these circumstances, it will be granted that it 
requires a good deal of knowledge and acumen to 
determine the real cause. But a pupil’ s health shows 
signs of giving way, a physician is called in, the six 
hours a day spent at school is to the physician, ^as it 
probably is to the parent, the most obtrusive fact of 
the pupil’s life. The physician says the child is 
studying too hard, and recommends that he be taken 
from the school ; while the report goes abroad that 
the school teacher is working the children to death. 
Obviously, in the case supposed, the physician 
should say, clothe this child in a more rational man- 
ner, give him more wholesome food, take him out of 
society, keep him off the streets, and do not let him 
sit up so late at night. Whether the demands made 


Teachers' Association . 


197 


on school children are excessive or not, I am con- 
vinced that a good deal of the ill health that is 
charged to the schools, ought to carried to the 
account of bad handling at home. 

But for argument’s sake, we will grant that the 
doctors are right, and that the trouble is at school. 
But where at school? Here we are confronted by 
another difficulty as embarrassing as the one just 
considered. As school is only one element in a pu- 
pil’s life ; so the amount of study required of him is 
only one element of his school life. Other elements 
enter into the problem ; and it must not be con- 
cluded that the teacher’s demands are excessive, 
because his pupils are suffering in health. The 
teacher may not impose too much work, but he may 
require it to be done in such ways, or he may have 
such absurd methods of instruction, that the amount 
required is a weariness to the flesh as well as to the 
mind. What is more, the physical conditions under 
which the work is performed may be unfavorable. 
The National Commissioner very justly says : 

Headache, bleeding at the nose, diseases of the eye 
and spine, dyspepsia, affections of the bronchial 
tubes and lungs, exanthematous fevers, diphtheria, 
and many other complaints, have undoubtedly been 
induced, or aggravated by the collection of numer- 
ous children in school under unfayorable conditions, 


198 


North-Eastern Ohio 


as to ventilation, light, heat, cleanliness, exercise 
and habits of study. School furniture is responsible 
for much curvature of the spine. Bad print, bad 
light, and bad position of the head while studying 
continually, cause distortions of the eye and result 
in trouble.* 

This statement is sufficient to show that our school 
administration may be working badly in a sanitary 
point of view, and yet the fault may not be 
unreasonable demands in the way of study. At 
all events, there is here plenty of room to fall into 
fallacies. As the six hours a day in school is the 
most striking fact in the pupil’s life, and therefore 
more likely to be seized hold of than any other to 
explain the loss of health ; so the lessons are the 
most striking fact of his school life, and therefore the 
more likely to be charged with such ill health as the 
schools produce. Hence, as the school is often 
charged with consequences really caused by forces 
acting at home, so the lessons are often charged with 
the effects of poor ventilation, bad heating arrange- 
ments, and insufficient exercise. When a human 
being’s life is marked by no prominent fact, it is 
frequently difficult demonstrably to trace disease to 
its real cause ; and the demonstration is especially 
difficult in the case of the pupil at school. 


* Report for 1872. 


Teachers' Association. 


199 


That a good deal of disease and many deaths are 
traceable to the common schools, and other places of 
education, I have not the slightest doubt. But it has 
been well remarked: “When we look for the causes 
which explain any known evil, we usually find that 
many concurrent causes unite to produce the result. 
It is seldom that we can trace in society any great 
evil to the action of any sole cause. ”* Notably is 
this the case with young persons attending school. 
Perhaps some of these concurrent causes should be 
stated at greater length. 

The Board of Health for the state of Michigan, 
a little more than a year ago, appointed a committee 
on bi Tdings, public and privaite, including ventila- 
tion, heating, etc., at the head of which was placed 
Dr. B. C. Kedzie. The report of the board for 1873 
contains a report from Dr. Kedzie on “School 
Buildings, in relation to their construction, warming, 
and ventilation, as influencing the health of teachers 
and scholars.” This very valuable document I have 
consulted in preparing this paper. Dr. Kedzie 
shows that, in Michigan, much mischief is done by 
over-crowding school rooms. He also insists, and 
with manifest truth, that great injury is caused, 
especially to girls of certain ages, by lofty school 


*See Dr. Kedzie’s report mentioned below. 


200 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


houses, entailing upon pupils an unreasonable 
amount of stair-climbing. He says under the first 
head, “the lowest estimate would require three 
hundred cubic feet of space, and twenty -five feet of 
floor space for each scholar ;” and under the second, 
he insists that a school- house, except for the most 
imperative reasons, should not be more than two 
stories high. He also indicts the large school 
houses, those where a thousand or fifteen hundred 
children are massed, and claims that houses of 
moderate size are far better. He also traces much ill 
health to imperfect warming and bad ventilation. 
In order to obtain satisfactory information in regard 
to ventilation, Hr. Kedzie visited some thirty schools, 
“examining their principal rooms, their mode of 
warming and ventilation, the degree of impurity in 
the air of the school rooms, their condition in regard 
to temperature, dryness,” etc. The results he 
tabulates in his report. He frequently found a 
difference in the temperature at the floor level and 
at the desk level of from eight to fifteen degrees ; 
in one instance it was nineteen, and in another it was 
twenty-one degrees. In the last case, the teacher 
exclaimed in astonishment, “Why, we ought to 
keep the head cool and the feet warm, and how am 
I to do it?” The reply was, that in such a school 


Teachers’ Association. 


201 


room it was impossible, unless the children stood on 
their heads ! Plainly it would be as reasonable to 
expect a man to be healthy, when his head was in 
the torrid zone and his feet were in the frigid, as it 
would be to expect children to be healthy whose 
extremities were immersed in air of such different 
temperatures. Dr. Kedzie’s report, of which I have 
not even attempted an analysis, is deserving of wide 
attention ; it is good reading in Ohio as well as in 
Michigan. 

The attempt of the teacher to trace a pupil’ s loss 
of health to its proper cause or causes, is attended 
by some peculiar difficulties. A statement of these 
will show the fallacies into which he is liable to fall. 

Those which I shall mention, arise from his bias 
as a teacher. He knows about what a pupil should 
do ; he has his own standards of work, resting on 
experience and formulated in “the course;” and 
he is constantly falling into habits of routine. 
Not only so, he is interested in his own work, 
thinks the business of the pupil is to be a pupil, and 
is as apt as other people to locate the causes of evils 
at a distance from himself. In other words, his bias 
predisposes him to trace failure in health to the 
pupil’s home life. What is more, he probably 
knows less of the child’s home life than the 


202 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


physician or the parent does of the school life. 
If a child leaves the school, perhaps the teacher 
does not know why ; or, if he knows that the cause 
is ill health, he loses sight of the invalid, and thinks 
no more about him. Besides, the teacher is occu- 
pied with the prominent features of his work ; in his 
thoughts he emphasizes the things that are to his 
mind ; he is more interested in his strong and 
vigorous pupils than in the weak ones. His atten- 
tion is fixed on those pupils who keep on to the end 
of the march, and, as the end is neared, he scarcely 
notices how the column has thinned out ; or, if he 
does, he hardly inquires after the missing. I do not 
mean that this is true of all teachers, or of the same 
teacher at all times ; I mean only that these are 
very natural and very pronounced tendencies of the 
teaching class. It might be supposed that the 
teacher, of all people in the world, would be fitted 
to decide how much study should be required of 
pupils in school ; probably he is, but enough has 
been said to show how fallible his judgments are 
likely to be. To these considerations two others may 
be added : the teacher’ s relative want of physiologi- 
cal and psychological training, and his perpetual 
tendency toward routine. 

Fellow-teachers, you will agree that I have been 


Teachers' Association. 


203 


markedly successful in talking around the subject. 
But you will remember that I never promised to do 
more than talk around it. Perhaps I have said 
enough to emphasize the subject, and to furnish some 
useful hints for making the inquiry. Let us now 
pass to some related matters. 

If it be true that the vital condition of our popula- 
tion is deteriorating, in what relation does this fact 
stand to our work as teachers ? Some will say : 
“Grant that the child ought to be able to perform 
the tasks assigned ; grant that he is able, provided 
the home life were what it should be ; nevertheless, 
homes are what they are, and are not likely to be 
rapidly changed for the better. What shall the 
teacher therefore do ? Shall he pay no attention to 
the common conditions of child life ? Shall he add 
the last straw that breaks the camel 5 s back % No, let 
him recognize the facts as they are, and accommo- 
date himself to them. Let him lop off a part of his 
demands at once, and thus give the children rest and 
health . 55 Concerning this view, two things should 
be said. 

In the first place, it is important to ascertain the 
real cause of any evil, that correction may be made 
where it belongs. If the home life of % the child is 
unnatural, this fact ought to be known ; especially 


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North-Easter n Ohio 


ought it to be known, if so unnatural as to interfere 
with his education. If society is to blame for a low 
vital condition in the schools, then society should 
correct itself. People must be given to understand 
that school is a fact of first importance in the life of 
a pupil. But, in the second place, the wise teacher 
will practically recognize all facts, relating to the 
child’s life, in so far as they are related to his effi- 
ciency and success as a pupil. He will not add the 
straw that breaks the back of the camel, although he 
sees a whole bale of straw on the animal’s back that 
ought not to be there. He will seek first to have the 
bale taken off. He will take the facts of average 
home and school life into the account, in adjusting 
his system. But while he inquires what is, and 
what is likely to be, he will not cease to work for 
reform where it is really called for. 

One glance at another matter: all courses of 
study, all class work, is based on the doctrine of 
averages. The demands made upon pupils in the 
public schools are graduated in that way ; they can 
be graduated in no other. How in any normal, 
healthy civilization, there is always a variety of tal- 
ent and of power. Hence, the school standard cannot 
be put up to the level of the best minds, nor put 
down to the level of the poorest. To do the first 


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205 


would be to sacrifice the majority to the geniuses ; 
to do the second would be to sacrifice the majority to 
the dunces. Here is the greatest defect in the public 
school system : it must be grounded in the wants of 
mediocrity. It gives small play for individuality of 
mental power and character. To be sure, this is a 
difficulty in all education except the solitary ; but it 
is peculiarly so in public school education. Some- 
thing more can probably be done to relieve this 
difficulty, but it can never be wholly overcome. 
With the general features of this subject, I am not 
concerned, and shall offer but a word or two on the 
special feature. The doctrine of averages works 
badly for the two extremes of ability: for bright 
students and for dull ones, for the strong and for the 
weak. In any school of considerable size, you will 
be sure to find two classes of pupils : those who are 
overtaxed mentally or physically, or both, and those 
who are capable of doing more work. Without 
passing on the general merits of the question, I have 
no doubt there is a class of weak pupils in the 
schools, who are overworked. Nor do I see that it 
is possible to give them complete relief, so long as 
they remain in the schools. It is too much to de- 
mand that the majority shall wait their motions. In 
the field of morals, I believe the strong should bear 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


the infirmities of the weak; but to introduce the 
precept here, and rigidly to insist upon it, would 
almost involve the loss of civilization. 

In conclusion, let me remark again, that all 
inquiries in the field I have skirted must be strictly 
inductive. General impressions and undigested facts 
are of small value. I would suggest whether this 
Association could not perform a valuable service by 
instituting some inquiries into the vital condition of 
the public schools. Could not a circular containing 
appropriate inquiries be sent to the more experi- 
enced teachers within the territory covered by the 
Association, calling upon them for their facts and 
conclusions ? Or, would it not be well to set on foot 
in the same territory a scheme for registering the 
vital phenomena of the schools ? At one time I had 
thought of submitting such a circular, and urging 
the Association to commit itself to the enterprise ; but 
concluded merely to suggest the matter and let it 
go. It seems to me, however, that some facts could 
be drawn out, which, digested by some competent 
person or persons, would be of considerable value in 
determining this vexed question. Of course, either 
undertaking would involve trouble and labor, but 
the results would more than compensate for both. 
The physical life is the basis of all life ; and if it be 


Teachers' dissociation. 


207 


true that, as a people, we are falling off in phys- 
ical power, we may be sure that something worse 
will follow, unless the process of deterioration is 
checked. 


WORDS CORRECTLY SPOKEN. 

BY ELROY M. AVERY, CLEVELAND. 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I am well aware that there is a class of some 
numerical importance who claim that there is no need 
of exercising any considerable care in the choice of 
words we use. “One understands what another 
means and that’ s all that’ s necessary. ” The fact that 
a majority of our lawsuits arise from a failure clearly 
to understand the meaning of words used, shows 
that the statement is not true. But were it true, we 
should waste no time upon it here, where we shall 
all agree that it is the duty of every educated person 
to say what he has to say in clear and orderly 
language. 

In such a day as this, when loyalty to the mother 
tongue is outraged at every turn, in the store and on 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


the street, in the pnlpit and at the bar, in the busy 
marts of trade or in the boudoir of beauty and of 
fashion, everywhere the same ; when the father says, 
“ I done it,” and the doting mother begins “ Please 
excuse” with a small p and misspells many a word ; 
when the preacher says either for either, and perhaps 
more than One of us habitually says learn for teach , 
it is time to ask if something cannot be done to stop 
this mutilation of the otherwise fair inheritance of 
so many English generation s. ‘ ‘ Haven’ t efforts been 
made?” Certainly. Book after book has been 
written, printed and widely circulated ; speech after 
speech has been made and oft repeated ; argument 
and ridicule have been used, but to no great purpose. 
The evil is uncured and scarcely checked. Why ? 
Because this matter of “Good English” is an art 
and not a science, a thing of habit and not of theory, 
a question of practice rather than one of preaching. 
That this is true, the great success of our language 
lessons goes to show. If I have a correct notion of 
that system, it is based upon the idea of good habits 
of speech formed and fixed by daily practice. The 
costly experiment of half a century’s trial shows 
that the study which claims to be the art of lan- 
guage, but which is merely its science, cannot give 
the results which we are now beginning to realize 


Teachers' Association. 


209 


from our simple language lessons. We did well 
when we gave them an honored place in our schools ; 
we shall do better, I think, when we go further and 
place them upon the higher seat made vacant by the 
banishment of formal grammar from our grammar 
schools to the last two years of the high school 
course. It will not now be denied that I have a 
tolerably high idea of the value of these lessons. 
Nevertheless, it seems to me that they are deficient 
in several respects bearing upon correctly spoken 
words. We have, in this Association, heard much 
of words correctly spelled ; but little of words cor- 
rectly spoken. To this subject I wish to call your 
attention. 

The first point is pronunciation. I fear that few 
of us have a realizing sense of what great sinners 
we are in this respect. It is not unkind to say that 
in this we are much worse than our eastern brethren. 
Our western speech is so full of ill-pronounced words 
that it might be truly said of us that there is none 
good, no, not one. Those of us who are of western 
birth and education, may find excuse in lack of 
opportunity and in the fact that this verbal miasm is 
inseparable from the new soil upon which we grew. 
But those among us who were reared in more favored 
lands and have not held fast the faith, can plead no 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


such excuse. Our fallen brother of eastern birth 
can have no just complaint if as he passes by, the 
rest of us gather up our robes and say, “We are 
holier than thou.” A few illustrations will make 
my meaning plainer than much generalization. 

How many of us have suspected that abdo'men 
is a better word than ab'domen, or that we need 
apparatus rather than apparatus? How often the 
equilibrium of an equation is destroyed by calling 
it an equazhun , or the truncation of a cone marred 
by calling the frustum a frustrum! Why should 
we say algebra for algebra? Why should we wear 
brogans' when bro'gans are as cheap and so much 
better ? As vaga'ries they are bad ; as va'garies they 
are worse. There is truth and philosophy in the 
declaration that “The babes should crip instead of 
creep, seven days of the wicJc instead of week, in 
homes where crick is said for creek.” The family 
hearth — give it in sound, as well as in truth, all of 
the heart and less of the earth. We are taught that 
forgery is a crime and forgers, criminals ; they are 
bad in more ways than one. 

In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of our hope. 

There is another word which, from long association, 
is fairly redolent of the milliners’ and dressmakers’ 


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211 


establishments where many of our fair sisters, them- 
selves truly ex'quisite, find things that are perfectly 
exquisite, regardless of the important truth that 
it is requisite that exquisite be accented on the 
first syllable, like perquisite. Too many of us, as 
teachers and as persons of professed culture, fail to 
make the proper distinction between the sounds of 
the verb rise and the noun rise, two distinct words 
which have a common orthography. I doubt not 
that Charles Sumner, Colonel Higginson, and men of 
their culture, read the Rise of the Dutch Republic, 
and that Sir Parvenu and Lady Shoddy, if they ever 
read such works at all, by themselves or with the 
help of some modern Silas Wegg, waded through 
the pages of the Rize of the Dutch Republic. 

These illustrations have been sufficiently multi- 
plied to make plain my meaning, and here I would 
stop were it not for a single class of words which 
suffer continually at our hands, and whose mispro- 
nunciation by us forms the distinctive badge of our 
4 4 fresh- water ’ 5 schools and colleges. They are words 
like bath, path, calf, half and can’t, which being 
entitled to the Italian sound of a are flattened to the 
short sound. The chief difficulty here lies in the 
fact that, among us, he who insists upon a correct 
pronunciation of these words is subjected to a charge 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


or suspicion of affectation. This is unpleasant, 
although it be well known that the charge or suspi- 
cion comes from those whose judgment in the matter 
is worthless. The authority in such cases is usage 
undoubtedly, but it is the usage of cultured men 
and women. If George William Curtis says calf 
and path, and George Francis Train says calf and 
path, the affectation lies with the latter, though he 
be supported by all the butchers and canal-drivers 
of Christendom. Affectation is, in itself, an error, 
and never on the side of truth. A strictly honest 
man in Wall street, a patriot statesman in Congress, 
or a Christian sailor in a heathen land, may be a 
rarity but not an affectation. There is in nature such 
a thing as an ant, but, my dear friend, it is not your 
father’s sister, unless’ there has been a case of the 
survival of the fittest more remarkable than any of 
which Charles Darwin ever dreamed. With us, 
another difficulty is that even when willing and anx- 
ious to speak these words correctly, one is thrown 
entirely upon one’ s own resources. That person is 
rowing against the current ; this requires effort, and 
few of us are over-fond of hard work. It will, per- 
haps, be proper to suggest in this place that I fully 
realize that it is easier to preacli than to practice. 
This realization prompts me to say that these remarks 


Teachers’ Association. 


213 


are offered, not as a model of Words Correctly Spo- 
ken but as a cbntribution to the end that yon may 
teach better than I was taught. 

Allied to this matter of correct pronunciation, is 
the one of distinct articulation. I know of no schools 
where the articulation of pupils is better than in our 
own ; yet how far short of satisfactory progress we 
have fallen, they best understand who best know 
the schools. 4 ‘Articulation is effected by the action of 
the lips, tongue, palate and jaws. In order that artic- 
ulation may be perfect, there must be a prompt, neat 
and easy action of these organs. When they move 
feebly or clumsily, the articulation is indistinct or 
mumbling.” This prompt, neat and easy action of 
the organs can be secured only by systematic prac- 
tice. Many of you well remember the practice upon 
“Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle- sifter,” 
and that other equally famous : 

He thrusts his fists against the posts, 

And still insists he sees the ghosts. 

I think that in doing away so largely with these good 
old-fashioned drills, we have done away with a very 
essential element in securing words correctly spoken. 
Few of our classes and not all of our teachers can 
read a paragraph without mumbling some of the 


214 


North-Eastern Ohio 


words; the very mention of “the orphan’s tears” 
is made ludicrously suggestive of bovine sorrow, 
while those beautiful lines, 

One sweetly solemn thought 
Comes to me o’er and o’er, 

are made to read, 

One sweetly solemn thought 
Come stew me o’er and o’er. 

Another point is the selection of words themselves. 
We should first learn to distinguish between real 
and spurious words. By spurious words, I mean 
such things as “resurrect,” so often used as a verb. 
We should be very careful not to pass unnoticed any 
of the numerous malformations which arise from a 
false inflection of about a dozen verbs, of which lie, 
lay, sit, set and do may serve as examples. And 
finally, we should practice and preach the choice of 
words of Anglo-Saxon derivation rather than those 
of Latin origin ; of short and common words rather 
than of long and uncommon ones. There are few 
sights more sorry than that of a person trying to 
cover poverty of thought with luxuriance of ver- 
biage. This was the weakness of a man whom I 
knew, who declared that a certain proposed railway 
would never pay expenses because when built, it 


Teachers' Association. 


215 


would not have a termini at either end. As a general 
thing, a beginning is better than a commencement, a 
house is better than an edifice, and even legs (when 
legs are meant) are far better than an equal number 
of limbs. We all know that one of the greatest 
merits of our English translation of the Bible is the 
abundant use of the Anglo-Saxon. Recall to mind 
that song of David, so full of joy and of beauty: 
“The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. He 
maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; he leadeth 
me beside the still waters.” And while your soul is 
yet full, listen : “ Jehovah is my pastor; I shall not 
be indigent. He constraineth me to recline in verdant 
fields ; he conducteth me in proximity to the un- 
rippled liquidities a paraphrase, the good intent 
of which is all that saves it from blasphemy. 

This matter of correctly spoken words, be it re- 
membered, is a matter of habit, and some habits are 
formed in very early life, and are very difficult to 
remove. This is especially true of habits of speech. 
Dean Alford well says : “ Hever talk, never allow to 
be talked to children, the contemptible nonsense 
which is so often the staple of nursery conversation.” 
He would not have “ Gfeorgy porgy ! ride in coachy 
poachy !” A child learns to talk by imitating the 
sounds it hears, and it must be as easy for it to learn 


216 


North-Eastern Ohio 


that one of its playthings most highly prized is a 
foot, as to learn that it is a “ footsy-tootsy.” The 
effort may be hard for the young mother, but it will 
be better for the child, so if opportunity ever offers, 
please remember the Dean’ s advice and do what you 
can to make less the labors of those who come after 
you here. Dickens, in “ Little Dorrit,” says that 
Mrs. Plornisli and the other residents of Bleeding 
Heart Yard, constructed sentences for the poor 
Italian, “by way of teaching him the language in 
its purity, such as were addressed by the savages to 
Captain Cook, or by Friday to Robinson Crusoe.” 
But this nursery nonsense, though analogous, is 
worse. It is the fountain far up the mountain side, 
into which the hunter’s heedless hand has cast the 
crushed adder, little thinking that its venom ming- 
ling with the waters that leap from rock to rock are 
bearing death to his loved ones who drink from the 
quiet stream that flows through the fields in the 
valley far below. This it is that .often renders of so 
little avail the efforts of our young teachers — women 
great of soul and pure of heart — that binds in ice 
their warmest plans and chills the fervor of their 
philanthropic zeal. 

At present, most of us are responsible for the words 
of children only after they have begun to attend 


Teachers' Association. 


217 


school, but from that point there is a growing re- 
sponsibility in the matter. Hence it is especially 
important that as teachers we give these matters a 
portion of our study, for if the blind lead the blind, 
both fall into the ditch. Every teacher should own 
or have easy access to such books as Gould’s “Good 
English,” White’s “ Words and their Uses,” Dean 
Trench’ s “ Study of W ords,” and habitually carry in 
his most convenient pocket that little work entitled 
“Three Thousand Words often Mispronounced.” 
They should arrange for mutual and friendly criticism 
among themselves, turning their conversation to the 
topics of language, treating them in a familiar and 
agreeable way, and thus correct many an 6 6 inaccuracy 
of diction or of pronunciation of which they might 
have remained unconscious but for an interchange of 
views in such companionship. In this way we may 
do much for one another by a fellowship of loyalty 
to the language.” When in college, a half-dozen 
of us students boarding at the same place agreed to 
pay a tine of five cents for each verbal inaccuracy 
detected. Our treasurer was soon the only one who 
had any money, and all that he had belonged to the 
society. The currency then was much inflated, but 
we found it prudent to reduce the fine to one cent ; 
no matter what we did with the money. I got good 
from that society and to-day belong to a somewhat 


218 


North-Eastern Ohio 


similar one, with membership limited to two* I 
recommend the idea of the society, either of ftiem, 
to you. 

In the lower grades, a teacher can do no better work 
than this for which I plead. If I had two teachers, 
one of whom sent forth scholars who used the lan- 
guage with easy accuracy, even if they were deficient 
in history and geography, the other of whom sent 
forth scholars who could handle fractions and dates 
with a dexterity like that with which a carpenter 
handles his tools, yet wading in an endless cesspool 
of slovenly English, I should give the praise of 
superiority to the former. I would have every teacher 
in every grade hang over her school room door, in 
imagination at least, the enticing sign, “Pure Eng- 
lish Used here.” I know that Richard Grant White 
admits that verbal criticism is not in the highest 
realm of literature; that there is a power of expres- 
sion so cultivated that Professor Huxley calls it 
4 ‘ sensual caterwauling. ” “ I do not mean, ’ • as Prof. 

Reed says, “that we are to sacrifice the naturalness 
of speech to a perpetual pedantry ; that we should 
be ambitious of being such rigid purists as to break 
the liberty and spirit of a living language by the' 
weight of too much authority ; that we should fetter 
the easy grace of colloquial speech with sad for- 
mality. But there may be something more of heed in 


Teachers' Association . 


219 


our use of language than we do pay to it, without 
running into anything so odious as pedantry.” With 
this same clear teacher, I would caution you against 
the “ error of looking upon this whole subject as a 
mere matter of rhetoric and of grammar, a superficial 
study of style, and therefore having claim upon the 
rhetorician rather than on the man, on art rather 
than on humanity.” With him, I would have you 
remember that “ speech, even more than reason, dis- 
tinguishes man from the brute, and that the two 
powers in ’tlieir mysterious union lift him out of bar- 
barism. Whatever it may be, whether the rude and 
imperfect speech of the savage, articulate words 
with no help of written language, or whether it be 
the copious and refined language of civilized nations, 
there is, all the earth over, the duty of loyalty, 
thoughtful loyalty, if possible, to the mother tongue.” 

In conclusion, I would appeal to your faithfulness 
to our national characteristics. Our degree of cul- 
ture is quickly, largely and generally measured by 
the language that we use. Slovenly sentences are as 
truly indicative of slovenly ideas as profane words 
are of a corrupted heart. There may be a more than 
metaphorical truth in the declaration, “ By thy words 
thou shalt be judged.” 


220 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


THE CHARGE OF INFLEXIBILITY OF THE 

GRADED SCHOOL SYSTEM CONSIDERED. 

BY E. E. SPAULDING, PAINESVILLE. 

“Establish Thou the work of our hands upon us ; 
Yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.” 

Thus prayed King David, one of the most remark- 
able men named in any history, sacred or profane. 
He tilled positions of all grades of honor, and with 
an ability which has sent his name down to us 
through the vicissitudes and revolutions of nearly 
thirty centuries ; he was a shepherd ; a messenger ; 
a singer — probably a choir leader ; a poet ; a fight- 
ing man, and a renowned monarch in Israel. 

His courage was signal ; out of the paw of the 
lion and the bear, he delivered the lamb of his 
father’ s flock ; his prowess was remarkable ; of this 
the result of his iittle unpleasantness with the Philis- 
tine giant furnishes abundant proof ; and it is worth 
remarking as we pass, that he is the first person 
recorded as having used the slung shot. 

But it is not related of him, however, that he was 
ever a school teacher , or a school superintendent ; 
and yet, it is easy to imagine him as having filled 


Teachers' plssocialion. 


221 


both positions, while the failure of the record in this 
important particular is easily accounted for, on the 
theory of the proverbial carelessness of historians. 

I can even suppose that he may have established a 
system of graded schools, and, undoubtedly, trials 
and obstacles beset and opposed him as they do us 
to-day. Enemies without assailed and condemned 
his best matured plans ; complained of the cost of 
his works, and magnified the defects of his system. 
Malcontents within the circle of the profession pro- 
posed hard conundrums and exposed the faulty 
working of his machinery. 

Nevertheless, he was firm in the belief that he had 
done a good work, and with complacent satisfaction, 
he may then have uttered the above prayer. What 
more natural supposition, in the absence of authen- 
tic records % 

There was human nature in him, and there is 
human nature in most men. 

When we have done any work of importance, we 
view it complacently, and in spirit , if not in words, 
we pray the prayer of the old king. We build a 
machine, patent an invention, put a theory on its 
legs, and the satisfaction in our achievement blinds 
our eyes to any defects in the working or results. So 
absorbed are we in the machinery, in the nice 
{frrangement of springs, of pulleys, of weights, that 


222 


North-Eastern Ohio 


we utterly forget to examine the product ; and not 
until some vigorous unbeliever disturbs our compla- 
cent meditations, do we realize that the machine is 
not an end, but a means . 

May not this remark apply, with force, to us who 
are interested in graded schools ? Are we not, in 
many instances, so given to the machines themselves , 
that we are running, that we forget to study the re- 
sults? forget that they are not an end f Are the 
results of the system such as we are justified in ex- 
pecting, when we consider the labor and the treasure 
that have been bestowed upon it ? If not, then there 
must be fault, somewhere. What is it ? Where ? 
How remedied ? 

True, many of the complaints against our schools 
have not so much as a shadow for a foundation, 
and the basis of others vanishes at the touch of 
investigation. 

The complaint is common, is chronic, that the 
results of the present system of graded schools, are 
by no means commensurate with the increased and 
increasing cost of maintaining them, and so there is 
wide-spread clamor for the reduction of expense by 
decapitating the system. The malcontents would 
take away our high schools. 

It is said that the men who come up from the hot : 
beds of the present system, cannot be compared to 


Teachers’ Association. 


223 


those who were reared by the open air culture of 
the country school of forty years ago. Possibly 
true ! But they who make this statement would 
estimate the value of the forest rather by the excep- 
tional prominence of single trees, than by the general 
stateliness and fair proportions of all. 

School systems cannot put brains into empty 
skulls, nor can lack of system, or advantages, or 
culture, wholly repress or stifle the natural aspira- 
tions of the noble soul ; else where had been our 
lamented Lincoln, and numbers of others, whose 
whole course of school was covered by a few short 
months ? But no reflecting mind can deny that that 
plan which opens the doors of the schools regularly 
for ten months in the year, which aims to secure and 
retain competent, faithful teachers skilled in their 
profession, which classes pupils according to capacity 
and attainment, and which requires all of a given 
stage of advancement to use the same books, and to 
do similar work, is infinitely better than the hap- 
hazard, hit-or-miss system which “ in our fathers ’ 
days was best.” 

But I do not wish to be understood to sneer at that 
system ; I honor it for the good it did ; and I rever- 
ence the noble men that it gave the world ; but he 
who would prefer it to the present, would throw 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


away his wife’s sewing machine and cooking stove, 
and send her back to the needle, the fire-place and 
the pot-hooks and trammels of fifty years gone by. 

Some man of considerable present note has said 
that the educational institutions of the country have 
produced no man of mark since 1854. He probabty 
graduated about that time himself. If his remarks 
were true — which is denied — it may be said that 
twenty years, under ordinary circumstances, is a 
very brief time in which to acquire fame. Of past 
systems, as of our childhood, we are likely to forget 
the defects and disappointments, and remember only 
that which is lovely. 

w 

But are there no well founded complaints against 
our graded schools % Do they accomplish so much 
more than their opponents admit and all that their 
admirers claim \ Doubtful. 

Passing many questions that have been raised, 
and on which the limits of such a paper forbid us to 
speak, I desire to notice what may be termed a 
lack of flexibility in the system. 

The critics say that our schools are an educa- 
tional treadmill ; that the child, once in them, is 
compelled to make so many turns, and withal, (and 
most important,) to keep step with his fellows. 
Woe ! to the luckless wight, they say, who halts, or 


Teachers' Association. 


225 


limps, or misses his step. Dire punishments and 
degradations are sure to follow ; having completed 
the course, however, he is turned out, much as the 
convict is discharged, when his sentence is served 
out. 

In the substance of this objection, I fear there is 
too much truth. What shall we say ? What say 
of all reasonable criticisms and objections ? Let us 
admit them. Truth cannot permanently suffer in 
any controversy. “The eternal years of God are 
hers.” Let us admit such criticism and objec- 
tion, and then strive for improvement and reform. 
Idly to sit by, and praise what has been done, is not 
wise. God tolerates no such helpers in his works, 
and education is his work in a special sense. He 
overthrows and removes every agency when its 
purpose is accomplished — cuts down the tree that 
cumbers the ground to make room for that which is 
fresh, vital and aspiring. 

The objection referred to above, stated in another 
way, is this: It is supposed that a number of chil- 
dren of minimum school age may be taken, put into 
the same class, subjected to the same drill, and 
ultimately graduated, having attained a similar 
proficiency. 

So, indeed, they might be, had some theorist , 


226 


North-Eastern Ohio 


instead of Infinite Wisdom, planned the world. 
Unfortunately for such a theory of education, God 
has not created any two beings on exactly the same 
model. One is blessed with quickness of percep- 
tion, another with deftness of hand, a third with 
physical endurance; and so, undoubtedly we err, 
when we attempt one school system for all. 
I do not, however, say that any school or system 
of schools is organized on a plan quite so unyielding 
as that above suggested ; but I do mean that, in 
very many cases, the tendency is to force uniformity 
where nature meant diversity. 

Adherence to the mechanism of our systetn has 
been the means — has been ? nay, it is the means 
of driving from our schools many who especially 
need their culture and discipline. The dull of per- 
ception, those whose mental processes are sluggish — 
those who, through poverty, are kept away a part 
of the time, find at best a poor place in our system, 
and they fall out and are lost to all our influences. 
Christ came “but to the lost sheep.” “They that 
are whole need not a physician.” 

Our scheme proceeds quite too much upon the 
assumption that there are no natural or accidental • 
differences among pupils equal in age. The differ- 
ences that we recognize, practically, are ambition, 


Teachers' Association. 


227 


faithfulness, and the like. We drill a given class 
for a specified time upon a set portion of the work, 
then apply our tests, and from the results proceed 
to separate the sheep from the goats. Such a process 
applied for a length of time, if only there be pupils 
enough subject to it, can hardly fail to produce 
showy schools — good ones, if you please ; just as, 
by ransacking Europe and Asia, by bribery, by 
kidnapping, by force, paying attention only to 
height and physique, Frederick William, of Prus- 
sia, was able to gather a regiment of giants whose 
average height was from seven to nine feet. As well 
might we suppose that the parading of this regiment 
would occasion in other soldiers of the army an 
increase of stature, as to suppose that such schools 
will enhance or increase the intellectual powers of 
the less gifted pupils ; the effect is the opposite. 
They exclaim, “Such knowledge is too wonderful 
for me ; it* is high ; I cannot attain unto it.” 

Such schools, I believe, fail of their true object ; 
they are not a means, but an end. 

The true object of the American schools should 
be, I think, the laying of the foundation of a true 
American citizenship, and to this end it should seek 
to develop what is purest, noblest, and best in every 
pupil ; to stimulate to active exercise those qualities 


228 


North-Eastern Ohio 


and capabilities which shall make him, in his 
generation, most valuable to the community and 
the country. 

I do not mean that there should be no common 
ground for education. The fundamentals should be 
the same for all, and a reasonable proficiency in 
them exacted ; but we should not be too exacting in 
our requirements, nor put into the foundations that 
which is more suitable for the superstructure. 

Now, the objection of inflexibility comes not from 
those who grumble at the expense ; they, indeed, do 
not know that it exists ; it comes from the friends of 
educational progress ; from intelligent and careful 
observation. 

What can be done to remove the objection ? It 
has been suggested — and the plan is gaining 
adherents — that our class intervals should be 
made less ; that, instead of a year, the interval 
should not be more than three or six months, and 
that promotions should take place, or there should 
be a re-classification, at the end of these periods. I 
need not rehearse the advantages claimed for this 
plan. Suffice it, that its originators see, or think 
they see, in it, a panacea for every ill of the graded 
schools. 

It seems to me, however, that the same objections, 


Teachers’ Association. 


229 


though possibly in a less degree, lie against this 
plan as against the old. The causes of the unequal 
advancement of pupils of the same age are mainly 
the natural difference to which reference has been 
made, and not to accidental ones. Consult your 
own experience. Why does your class in arithmetic, 
or in grammar, exhibit such discrepancy of attain- 
ment ? Is it not from difference in natural ability, 
keenness of perception, aptitude for the study, etc., 
rather than from irregular or inconstant attendance % 
Now, would re-classing more frequently obviate 
these main difficulties % If, indeed, we should thus 
overcome some of the minor difficulties, should we 

not add others equally or more potent, by removing 

♦ 

some of the powerful influences that by another plan 
we can call to our aid ? 

One of the great levers with which we work, 
although it may be unconsciously in many cases, is 
what the French call esprit du corps ; we may call 
it class-spirit. While original classes are kept 
together we get the full force of it, and it is a power 
which every careful observer of schools knows well 
how to estimate. Break the classes at the end of 
three months, or a year — the oftener the worse — and 
this powerful aid is wholly lost. The trouble is not 
that a degraded pupil must review old ground ; it is 


230 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


that His class associations are broken, and that, 
hereafter, he must associate with those who, up to 
this time, have been regarded as his inferiors. 

Would I never then degrade a pupil who falls 
below the standard ? I might do so. If a pupil fail 
through idleness, shiftlessness, or other similar 
cause, down he should go, and justly. If he fail 
because nature has not endowed him with intellect- 
ual gifts so lavishly as she has his class-mates, why, 
I think we do great wrong to degrade him. The 
great differences in pupils, I repeat, exist in nature, 
and cannot be gotten over nor — under ; by frequent 
re-classifications we shall but aggravate the evil we 
seek to obviate, and the advantage gained by requir- 
ing a dull pupil to go again over the ground once 
traversed by his class, is oftentimes more fancied 
than real, and is offset by disadvantages of a serious 
character. 

But what of the effect upon others by thus 
degrading a pupil? I know that the famous or 
infamous Jeffrey once told a horse-thief, on whom 
he was about to pass sentence of death, that he hung 
him, not to prevent him from stealing horses, bu^ 
that, through his punishment, other men might be 
deterred from the crime ; and I know that a similar 
reason is offered for breaking classes, and for 


Teachers’ Association. 


231 


degrading pupils. But those whom such consider- 
ations influence, are, as a general thing, wide awake 
already, sufficiently excited by the ambition to 
maintain a good rank. When to the fear of possible 
failure, is added the certain shame of degradation, 
in case of failure, we stimulate them too much, and 
give good cause for the complaint that we tax them 
too heavily. Besides, those whom we ought to reach 
and to elevate, nine times in ten, are least likely to 
be reached by this means. 

As hanging for horse-stealing is now done away 
with, and with no bad results, so let us hope, that 
the time will ere long come when the crime of being 
weak intellectually will not be so severely dealt with 
as to result in depriving these unfortunates of all 
school privileges. 

If inflexibility then is a crying evil in our system, 
and if frequent re-classification works as much harm 
as good, some other remedy must be sought ; and if 
the great differences between pupils are natural 
rather than accidental, it would seem best to seek a 
remedy which is conformable to nature. Instead of 
forcing uniformity where she has made diversity, 
let us be content to follow where she leads, rather 
than strive to force her into paths which she does 
not choose. 


232 


North-Eastern Ohio 


Now, could we not reach the end we seek, in some 
such way as this ? 

Of those not quick in a given branch — grammar, 
for instance — suppose we require less in that branch, 
and more, that is, a higher per cent, in some other 
study for which they have a natural aptitude. For 
a certain part of a given class, suppose the standard 
in grammar be fifty, in arithmetic seventy-five, and 
ninety in geography ; for another portion, fifty in 
geography, seventy-five in grammar, ninety in arith- 
metic, etc.; further, might not some of the pupils — 
those whose attendance must be inconstant or irreg- 
ular, drop some one study, as grammar, altogether % 
provided, that they devote all their time to the 
others % and provided also that the teacher be sole 
judge as to the necessity of such omissions % 

Still further ; might not the more brilliant pupils 
take an additional study, either anticipating the 
future course, or supplementary to those already 
pursued ? 

In this way we might make the minimum work 
consist of two, and the maximum of four studies, 
reading, writing, spelling and general exercises, 
should, besides, be required of all. 

By some such plan it seems to me we should fol- 
low nature ; we should keep original classes together 


Teachers' Association. 


*233 


far better by this plan than by the present plan, and 
so secure what now we so largely lose the benefit of — 
the class spirit. Many a one whom now no fear of 
degradation can stimulate, rather than be known as 
a pupil competent to carry but two studies, would 
redouble his efforts, would become constant and regu- 
lar in his attendance, and would work at home and 
at odd times to maintain a good standing. The dull 
would not be driven to despair by fear of degrada- 
tion, the brilliant would find fullest play for all their 
mental activities, and a harmony and enthusiasm 
would result, such as has not been known. 

And yet, I am not certain that this would be a 
universal panacea for schoolmasters. Of one thing, 
I am, however, tolerably sure ; if such a plan were 
generally adopted and practiced, the charge of main- 
taining an inflexible system could not be laid to our 
charge. There would still be ignorant, careless and 
vicious parents, who would, as now, be largely repre- 
sented in our. schools by children equally ignorant, 
careless and vicious. Other means must, if possible, 
reach them. They must not be allowed to stay the 
wheels of progress, but means must be devised for 
their uplifting and reclamation. 

From what I have said you cannot understand 
me, in any sense, as joining with those who cry out 
against our graded school system. 


234 


North-Eastern Ohio 


To me the wonder is that it has done so much 
and so well. Thirty years ago the system in Ohio 
was unknown ; to-day, it challenges the admiration 
of the world. I wonder that its faults are so few and 
so insignificant. 

All honor to those noble men of prudent foresight, 
of philanthropic purpose, of devoted and unselfish 
lives, who, putting their hands, their heads and their 
hearts into the work, reared for us a structure so 
graceful, so harmonious in proportion, and withal so 
productive in grand results. The criticism that we 
hear, the disaffection that we see, are not the har- 
bingers of failure or overthrow ; they will but 
stimulate the friends of education throughout our 
commonwealth to renewed zeal and carefulness. 
Faults will be eliminated ; the wrong will be righted, 
and educational privileges and systems will be placed 
on higher and yet higher grounds for public useful- 
ness, to do a work for the future of which their 
founders never dreamed ; and the educators of com- 
ing generations shall be able, with sublime confidence 
to pray 

“Establish Thou the work of our hands upon us ; 
Yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.” 


Teachers' Association. 


235 


INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

BY I. M. CLEMENS, WOOSTER. 

SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

In the January number of the Ohio Educational 
Monthly , the following remarks are made by the 
editor: “Twenty years ago a frequent topic of dis- 
cussion among teachers was the claim to be admitted 
among the learned professions. That so little of this 
is heard at the present day, shows what a great, real 
advance has been made in the respectability of the 
profession. Teachers do not now think of preferring 
a claim of that kind, because they know that the 
standing of the profession is established. This has 
not been done by any act of recognition on the part 
of others, but rather by the general increase of the 
intelligence and education of teachers themselves. 
The respectability of a profession depends for the 
most part upon the worthiness of its individual 
members. It depends also, in a great measure, upon 
whether its object is to meet the nobler or the meaner 
wants of man. It depends in a less degree, upon 
the amount of energy, knowledge, and skill, required 
in its practice.” 

The prudent mariner, though he may be sailing 
under a clear sky and before a favorable wind, does 


236 


'Korlh-Easlern Ohio 


not fail to consult his compass frequently and to take 
note of his bearings that he may know whether his 
good ship is making headway toward the port for 
which she set out, or whether she is wandering far 
out of her course, liable to be dashed to pieces on 
hidden rocks and reefs. 

The wise general makes frequent reviews of his 
army, that he may know whether his soldiers are 
thoroughly drilled and equipped, ready to obey 
every word of command, and fully prepared to do 
successful battle in the cause for which they fight. 

The sagacious merchant takes a yearly inventory 
of his stock, and balances his accounts, that he may 
know whether his business is moving on a reliable 
basis, or whether it is leading him into embarrass- 
ment and bankruptcy. 

It seems to me that it would be well for us, 
engaged as we are, in an all-important enterprise, to 
examine, at least as often as once in twenty years, 
the position we occupy, that we may know whether 
we are indeed making real advances, and are on the 
highway to success, about to triumph over every 
difficulty, and to accomplish results, for which the 
world will be the better. 

That teaching should stand side by side with the 
u three learned professions,” law, medicine, and 


i 


Teachers' sissocialion. 


237 


theology, no one will deny. That it does not, must 
be evident, I think, to the most casual observer ; and 
that it never can under existing circumstances, every 
thoughtful teacher will concede. 

As the training of boys and girls to become up- 
right, loyal citizens, is of more importance than the 
knowledge and practice of the law, the teacher’s 
calling is higher, nobler, better than the lawyer’ s. 
He who teaches youth the way to secure perfect 
physical development and health which will insure 
a vigorous manhood, and a “ green old age,” labors 
for a worthier purpose than he who attempts to 
relieve us of sufferings incurred by the continual 
violation of the laws of our being. So, too, he who 
guides the young mind and heart aright, that it may 
not pursue the ways of wickedness, is at least brother 
to him who strives to reclaim the sin-burdened and 
fallen. Ours is, indeed, an exalted, if not “a learned 
profession,” for its aims are the very highest and 
the best. Its objects are pre-eminently to meet the 
nobler wants of man. We need have little concern 
as to the respectability — the rank of our profession. 
As the dearest, the most sacred interests of society 
are wrapped up in it, the time must come, if it is 
not already here, when teaching will be recognized 
as a learned profession. 


238 


'North- Eastern Ohio 


In the quotation I have made, it is truly said that 
the respectability of a profession depends for the 
most part upon the worthiness of its individual mem- 
bers. To be a worthy member of any profession, 
one must possess the character, knowledge and skill 
necessary to put into successful practice what he 
professes. To be a worthy teacher, then, one must 
have, not only a good moral character, as the law 
requires, and a fair knowledge of what is to be 
taught, but he m ust be familiar with the best methods 
of instruction, and know how to use them. 

As to u moral character,” I believe the mass 
of those entitled to the name of teacher are above 
reproach, notwithstanding the assertion, that as 
many dishonest persons are to be found among 
teachers, as are to be found in the ranks of any other 
profession. Open immorality on the part of a 
teacher is not countenanced, so far as I know, in any 
community, and the teacher like the clergyman, if 
found unqualified in this respect, is soon relieved of 
his charge, as he ought to be. There is, however, 
another character that every worthy teacher must 
possess. He must possess a professional character, 
a character that will distinguish him from the mere 
pretender, and the novice ; one that will give him 
influence not only with those he teaches, but with 


Teachers' Association. 


239 


the community in which he labors, and that will give 
him caste , if you please, with the members of the 
other professions. This character is not inherited. 
It is acquired. Men may be born poets, but they 
are not born teachers. There is a science and an art 
in education, and we become proficient in the applica- 
tion of them just as we do in any other case, by 
study and practice ; and hence those only who have 
acquired a professional education, either in profes- 
sional institutions, or by study and practice in the 
school room, can be worthy members of the 
profession, and help to give it respectability. 

Mere scholarship will never make a teacher, and 
yet this cannot be neglected to any great degree. One 
may be familiar with the subject matter of a profes- 
sion, and still not know how to use his knowledge to 
advantage to others, but he who is ignorant of the 
subject matter has nothing to use, and therefore 
methods are not only useless to him, but impossible 
of application. 

In this connection let me refer to some statistics to 
be found in the last report of our State Commissioner 
of Common Schools. 

In that report you will find that the number of 
persons who applied to county boards of examiners 
for teachers’ certificates was twenty-nine thousand 


240 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


and thirty-one. Of this large number only five hun- 
dred and eighty-one received certificates of the first 
grade — that is for twenty-four months — while eight 
thousand, eight hundred and sixty-four received 
certificates of the fourth or lowest grade — that is 
for six months — and eight thousand, five hundred 
and twenty were rejected. So far as reported, eight 
hundred and fifty-six applied to local boards, and 
of these one hundred and seven failed in examina- 
tion. If we add to these statements the fact that 
many local boards in the smaller towns and vil- 
lages, and in some larger towns also, do not require 
as much of applicants even as county boards do, 
we have the status of a majority of the teachers 
outside of our large cities, so far as scholarship is 
concerned. These figures indicate that a very large 
number of our teachers not only lack scholarship, 
but that they are inexperienced and without pro- 
fessional training. It is indeed fortunate for our 
school system, and our profession, that this state of 
things does not exist to any great extent in the 
cities and largest towns. How can the respectabil- 
ity of a profession be sustained with such an army 
of unprofessional and incompetent members in its 
ranks ? 

What confidence could we place in a court of 


Teachers' Association. 


241 


justice where judge and advocates were not only 
inexperienced, but without a knowledge of the law 
and its rules of application? What prospect of 
recovery from disease could any one have in the 
hands of an ignorant and unskilled physician? 
What unblushing presumption then in those who 
have neither scholarship nor skill to attempt to 
teach the youth of the state ! 

But this is not the only class of teachers who 
drag down the respectability of the profession. 

There are many whose scholarship is good, who 
enter the ranks of teachers temporarily ; who make 
teaching a mere stepping-stone to something bet- 
ter, to something in which there is more money 
and more honor. They have some other occupation 
in view as a permanent business, and naturally give 
their minds to that, and pay little attention to their 
teaching, except so much as may be absolutely 
needed to do the immediate duties of the school 
room. 

The young student leaves his class to teach, that 
he may secure the means of completing his collegiate 
education. The young lawyer becomes a teacher 
only to accumulate money enough to meet his ex- 
penses while he is working up a practice. The 
young lady teaches, because forsooth she can do 


242 


North-Eastern Ohio 


nothing else, while she is waiting for something 
better — u a better half.” 

Such efforts to help themselves may indeed be 
commendable, but what of the influence of such 
teachers on our schools ? 

These teachers make little if any attempt at pro- 
fessional improvement. They do not make the 
science and aid of education a -study, and hence their 
teaching is mechanical and unfruitful of good results. 
They have no enthusiasm in their work and can beget 
none in their pupils, and their school rooms exhibit 
one continued round of dull toil, calculated not to 
inspire and develop, but to dwarf the intellect and 
blunt the sensibilities. Such persons are mere 
hangers on, mere camp-followers of the great army 
of true teachers, whose highest aim and delight are to 
train up the boys and girls entrusted to their care to be 
noble men and women — men and women thoroughly 
imbued with the' principles and spirit of justice, 
goodness and truth, men and* women whose souls 
shall always be full of the desire to elevate and refine 
mankind, rather than to be seekers after fame, or 
mere money-getters. 

He is an unworthy teacher who teaches only for 
the money that is in it ; and of those who enter the 
profession temporarily a large majority act on this 
principle. 


Teachers' Association. 


243 


The report to which I have referred shows that 
seven thousand eight hundred and eleven applicants 
for certificates to teach were under twenty years of 
age. Here, again the respectability of the profession 
suffers. When the blind lead the blind both are 
liable to fall into the ditch. 

Is the science and art of teaching so simple, so 
easily understood, and so readily applied, that any 
stripling of a boy, whose mind is as yet quite un- 
developed, and whose habits of thought, and study, 
of feeling and action, are still unformed, can teach 
aright? Can the girl of sixteen be entrusted with 
the education of children without risk ? Such teachers 
and those who would employ them do not consider 
the nature of the material on which they are to work. 
They do not realize that a single misstep in the early 
school life of a child may jeopardize its interests for 
time and eternity. Men guard their material interests 
with far more care than they do the education of 
their children. Fathers do not commit their finan- 
cial affairs to the boys, nor do mothers leave the 
management of the household to the girls, and yet 
it is commonly thought that any one who can read 
and write is capable of teaching the lower grades of 
schools. Never was a more mistaken and mischiev- 
ous idea entertained. It is, however, an encouraging 


244 


North-Eastern Ohio 


sign* of the times, that good teaching in primary 
schools is beginning to be appreciated. Here the very 
best teachers are needed, for here the foundation 
for future culture must be laid, if laid at all. 

The unsatisfactory results that have come from 
the work done by the three classes of teachers to 
which I have referred, have, to some extent, brought 
discredit upon the profession, and have called forth 
adverse criticisms on our school system from friend 
and foe. 

But the faults of our schools are not all to be traced 
to this source. There are many defects in the sys- 
tem itself, and the very best of teachers are often 
unable to avoid the consequent evil results. 

A late writer says, “ the primal, and naturally the 
greatest evil of our educational system is, that it is 
too systematic altogether, that it works in grooves, 
that teachers are mere automatic machines, and 
that their highest ambition seems to be to cram as 
much learning into a child in as short a space of 
time as possible — that teachers work for high per 
cents rather than for true culture, and that teachers 
and pupils both lose their individuality, under the 
grinding force of inexorable rules.” It is charged 
that the common branches are neglected, so as to 
gain time to give pupils a smattering of the higher 


Teachers’ Association. 


245 


branches, which are practically of no use to them — 
that most children leave our schools little better pre- 
pared to engage in any of the active occupations of 
life, than if they had received no education at all. 
These and many other defects call loudly for reform, 
but of all the problems that have engaged the atten- 
tion of the ablest educators for the last quarter of a 
century, not one is more important, and not one pre- 
sents greater obstacles to its solution than that of 
furnishing all of our schools with competent, faith- 
ful, trained teachers. 

Some years ago it was thought that normal 
schools could and would be established in sufficient 
numbers to meet the case. But as yet they have 
fallen far short, notwithstanding private enterprise 
has come to the aid of the state. 

General Eaton states in one of his reports that 
according to estimates made by prominent educat- 
ors, over one hundred thousand new teachers are 
demanded each year for our schools, and that the 
normal schools of the country can graduate only 
about one-twenty-fifth of this number. He says 
further, that though we take into the account the 
circumstances that may modify these figures, the 
truth of the utter and appalling inadequacy of 
normal training remains.” 


246 


North-Eastern Ohio 


It is no doubt true, that a very small per cent, 
perhaps not even per ten cent., of all of our teachers 
have received any professional training, and probably 
not five per cent, have taken a regular course at a 
normal school. 

Much good has been accomplished by state, county 
and local institutes ; but these do not reach even a 
majority of the teachers, and it generally happens 
that the very ones who need instruction most are 
the ones not found in attendance on these institutes. 

Educational lectures, papers and books are doing 
good service, also ; but the instrumentality which 
seems now to be productive of the best results, is the 
system of supervision adopted in the cities and large 
towns. 

But with all these appliances the fact still stares 
us in the face, that there is not yet provided any 
adequate remedy for the evil. 

How then are qualified teachers to be obtained? 
Superintendent Bateman, of Illinois, says, “ by 
simply demanding them.” When our people de- 
mand competent teachers for their schools, pay them 
adequate salaries, and give greater permanency to 
the position, they will readily find them; but as long 
as incompetent teachers are employed because they 
can be had for a few dollars a month, not many will 


Teachers' Association. 


247 


feel inclined to spend time and money in acquiring 
a professional education, and then be obliged to come 
in competition with those who have not invested a 
single dollar, nor an hour of time, in preparation for 
the position they seek. 

Many of the states have already enacted compul- 
sory educational laws,. The idea of compulsory 
education has, I believe, been borrowed from Ger- 
many. Its effects there seem to have been so 
beneficial that some of our best men have urged its 
adoption here. The German system is a complete 
one, and it is strange that the most important part 
of that system should be practically discarded in 
applying it in this country. If we were to attempt 
the English system of high farming, and omit in 
practice one of its essential features — that of the 
adequate fertilization of the soil — we should certainly 
fail. But this is just what those states are doing that 
have adopted compulsory education, and have made 
no provision for a full supply of trained teachers. 

Germany demands that all of her children shall 
be educated, but she does not stop here, she provides 
teachers competent to instruct them. Teachers’ semi- 
naries, or normal schools are established, where the 
“ discipline is said to be strict, the fare simple, and 
the work hard.” In these schools apart of the time 


248 


North-Eastern Ohio 


is devoted to the study of the art and science of 
teaching and managing classes and schools, and part 
to teaching in the practice schools. After giving 
those who wish to become teachers every opportunity 
of acquiring the knowledge and practice that all 
teachers should have, the state prohibits any one 
found unqualified from teaching either a public or 
a private school, and to test his fitness a commission 
of experts is appointed to conduct his examination. 
Those who complete the three years’ course of the 
seminaries and pass the required examination receive 
one of the three grades of certificates granted, and 
are permitted to become assistant teachers. 

After serving three years as an assistant, the 
teacher may present himself for another examination, 
which turns mainly on professional skill. If this 
examination is satisfactory, he receives a certificate 
of qualification for a full-class town elemental teacher ; 
if the result is only “good,” the certificate limits his 
chance to a village school. But this is not all : 
After obtaining the mastership of a school the young 
teacher must extend his professional knowledge by 
taking part in one or more of the conferences held 
in every province, for the discussion of professional 
questions, and the keeping up of a professional 
attachment. In addition to this each teacher is 


Teachers' Association. 


249 


required to become a member of one of tbeir “book 
societies,” and by the payment of a small sum to 
aid in procuring educational journals, and other 
educational literature by which professional im- 
provement may be extended and continued. 

Thus Germany not only requires a professional 
training of those who would be teachers, before they 
enter upon fcheir work, but she forbids their rusting 
out in their work, by requiring them to continue a 
regular course of professional advancement. When 
our states shall add this feature of the German sys- 
tem to that now introduced, then and not till then 
will all of our schools be supplied with trained 
teachers. 

The state must demand that those who teach shall 
be competent, and she must close her school house 
doors against all who are found incompetent, and in 
doing this she will act wisely, for it were far better 
that our children should be at home than at school 
under incompetent teachers. 

At the twenty-second annual meeting of the Ohio 
State Teachers’ Association, the president, after re- 
ferring to the efforts that had been made by the 
teachers of the state to secure normal schools and 
county supervision, said : 

What ten years more will bring forth in the his- 
tory of education in Ohio, no teacher, not even a 


250 


North-Easter?! Ohio 


veteran in the service, would dare attempt to foretell. 
But the progress of the past surely leaves us not 
hopeless and faithless, but full of encouragement. 
It will do us no harm to indulge, at least, in the 
vision of not less than six well-established, munifi- 
cently endowed state normal schools, with two 
thousand young men and women in course of training 
for the profession — one master mind controlling the 
educational affairs of each county, with the township, 
and not the sub-district as the unit in the grand sys- 
tem of the common schools of the state. 

Five of these ten years are nearly past, and the 
vision of normal schools and county supervision 
then indulged, is still a vision and likely to remain 
so for the five years to come. 

While we are looking forward with hopefulness 
and faith for a better state of things, let us not forget 
to use to the best possible advantage the means we 
have, for elevating our profession and benefiting our 
schools. Let us not think that because the state is 
doing little for us we can do nothing for ourselves. 
Whatever of real advancement has been made in the 
ast twenty years, has been the result of the indi- 
vidual and the united efforts of the teachers of the 
state. 

Still greater advancement shall be made if only 
we are true to ourselves and to the cause in which 
we labor. 


Teachers’ Association. 


251 


A little more than five years ago some of the 
leading spirits of North-Eastern Ohio, fully apprecia- 
ting the great need of better qualified teachers, and 
recognizing the lack of means to this end, conceived 
the idea of organizing an association for the profes- 
sional improvement of the teachers of this part of 
the state. The North-Eastern Ohio Teachers' Asso- 
ciation is the realization of that idea. With its 
history most of you are familiar. Its influence has 
been felt far beyond the counties included in its 
bounds, and so good has this influence been that 
similar organizations have been formed in other sec- 
tions of the state. No one instrumentality has done 
so much to improve the condition of the schools of 
North-Eastern Ohio, as has this Association, and to 
those who organized it and kept it alive and vigorous 
in its infancy, there is due the gratitude of every 
friend of the good cause of education ; and to him who 
during these five years was its honored president, 
I am sure our hearts are all full of thankfulness, for 
to him, more, perhaps, than to any one else is the 
Association indebted for the excellent influence it has 
exerted, and for the prominent position it now 
occupies. 

To be the successor of one so distinguished and 
so esteemed — to be the second president of this 


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Norih-Easlern Ohio 


Association — is an honor which I think I fully 
appreciate, and one for which I now tender to you 
my sincerest thanks. 


THE HIGH SCHOOL AND THE COLLEGE. 

BY PROF. C. H. PENFIELD, CLEVELAND. 

Two systems of education have grown up in our 
country side by side, each with its own ideal, its own 
independent life, its own law of growth and develop- 
ment, and each has struck its roots wide and deep 
in our soil. The one an indigenous growth formed 
and fashioned to meet the wants of the masses, the 
other the growth of centuries, shaped to mould and 
develop the minds of the thinking and governing 
classes. 

What shall be the attitude of these two systems 
toward each other? Shall it be at best but an armed 
neutrality, or shall it be one of mutual confidence 
and harmonious co-operation? In discussing this 
question, I shall for the sake of perspicuity, arrange 
my thoughts under three heads, and inquire : First , 
into the importance of a vital connection and harmo- 
nious co-operation between the two systems of 


Teachers' Association. 


253 


education ; Second , The feasibility of such connec- 
tion and steps already taken in this direction ; and 
Lastly , inquire, What still remains to be done. 

And first, at the outset, it will be germane to my 
purpose to inquire whether both systems are destined 
to survive, or whether according to the law of the 
fittest, the one is fated to pale before the light of the 
other. That our common school system has a noble 
work before it, we as common school men, all feel in 
our inmost hearts, if we are the right men in the right 
place. But what of the college system ? Has it 
served its day and generation, and is it nearly ready 
to be gathered to its fathers ? 

I do not propose here to give an extended argu- 
ment for the value of a classical education. The 
stock arguments in its favor you have undoubtedly 
heard again and again. 

Nor is it necessary for my purpose, for, observe, 
I have not to prove the superiority of a classical 
education over other modes, but simply to show 
that it has its roots in such wants of the American 
mind as insure it a perennial growth and develop- 
ment among us. 

I have assumed by the term classical education 
what you at once grant, that the college system 
differs from the common school system mainly in 


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the amount of Latin and Greek required in the 
former. 

Far back in the history of England — when the 
Saxons yielded to the Normans, and their language 
was restricted to the field of home and daily wants, 
and the Norman French became the language of 
court and society — a habit became impressed upon 
the English speaking people, a habit fostered for 
centuries by their learned men, (learned only 
through the medium of the Latin and Greek,) a 
habit which has ever grown with their growth and 
strengthened with their strength — a habit, do I say? 
Nay, th q power to draw at will from the resources 
of the Latin and Greek, to meet the growing wants 
of English and American thought. The foundation 
of our language, as we all know, is Saxon, the lan- 
guage of home, and every day life and wants. But 
the moment the child or the man rises above these 
into the realm of thought, of feeling, of criticism, of 
conscious mental activity, he breathes the atmos- 
phere of the Greek and Latin. For example, I 
open at random to a page of Karnes’ “Elements of 
Criticism.” I read, marking the Greek and Latin 
words. “The effect (Latin) of magnifying (Latin) or 
lessening objects (Latin) by means of comparison 
(Latin) is so familiar (Latin) that no philosopher 


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255 


(Greek) has thought of searching for a cause (Latin). 
The obscurity (Latin) of the subject (Latin) may 
possibly (Latin) have contributed (Latin) to this 
silence (Latin). Or, by count on a page, about one 
word in four, or omitting mere connectives and 
modifiers, nine-tenths of the leading words are 
Latin or Greek. 

Another thing, too, strikes us, on examination. 
Passing by the unusual and technical terms of our 
author, and taking on the page such ordinary words 
as influence (a flowing into), object (a something 
cast before us), conceive , difference , etc., we observe 
that the simple, ordinary use of the word in Eng- 
lish, is the secondary or figurative use in Latin or 
Greek. 

W e are using figures and tropes every day of 
our lives, and talking and reasoning in metaphors. 
We are well aware in the study of poetry, or all 
consciously metaphorical language, how vastly we 
are aided in our appreciation and enjoyment of its 
beauties by a clear understanding of its tropes ; so 
in the daily language of thought and feeling, the 
mere English scholar, however thoroughly trained, 
has no eyes for the metaphor concealed in his words. 
He never can appreciate the nice adaptation and fit- 
ness of words — can never attain to keen appreciation 


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'North-Eastern Ohio 


of their delicate shades of meaning — in fine, can 
never know the language of his daily life, until he 
has met and become familiar with the faces of his 
daily friends in their own old home. 

I have said this power of adaptation has grown 
with the growth of the English language. It has 
become a law of growth , and in this respect, as far 
as I know, the English language stands alone. 

The German, with its marvelous power of com- 
position and inflection, can form a hendecasyllable, 
if needed to express a new thought ; but the moment 
a man with us has made a new discovery, from a new 
planet to a superior hair oil — the moment he has 
separated two thoughts which had been before con- 
founded — the moment he has attained a clearer 
conception and wants a new word to clothe his 
discovery, or conception — that moment he starts for 
the old storehouse, and however much he may have 
decried the study of the dead languages ; if he is so 
unfortunate as to find himself ignorant of them, is 
obliged to appeal to the classical scholar to stand 
godfather to the new-born thought ! That I do not 
exaggerate, let me ask any one of you to open any 
recent work in science or art, and see if four-fifths, 
if not nine-tenths, of all the terms peculiar to that 
science or art, are not recent importations from the 
Latin and Greek. 


Teachers' Association. 


257 


Our forefathers in clearing the ground and paving 
the way to these mines of wealth, were building 
wiser than they knew. They have imposed much 
toil upon us by making us almost a trilingual peo- 
ple, but they have given to the English a delicacy, 
a flexibility, a wealth that no other language can 
boast of. 

To what classes then, and how strongly does the 
classic course appeal. And First , let me say in 
general to all to whom a nice appreciation and 
extensive acquaintance with their own language is 
important — to all those whose business is mainly 
with words — whose occupation it is to grasp the 
exact thought embodied in the language of others, 
and present it clearly and attractively — to ministers 
— to teachers — to lawyers — to public speakers. 
Second . To all who aspire to appreciate and keenly 
enjoy the beauties of our own literature. Third. 
To all who wish to write that which our children 
will be glad to read. Fourth. To all who expect to 
enrich the world with new thoughts or clearer 
expressions — and it appeals to these classes strongly 
enough to fill our colleges with continually grow- 
ing numbers. Whatever backward eddies there 
may have been from time to time, there never has 
been a time when college education has been more 


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popular, or its claims more widely appreciated than 
now. 

It seems to me safe, then, to conclude that both 
are bound to survive, and that each meets a felt 
want of the American people. 

A certain well known preacher of from ten to fifty 
years ago, used to lay out his sermons somehow 
thus: First. Show what my text does not mean. 
Second. Show what it does ! You will excuse me, if 
I follow something of the same plan, and before 
proceeding to inquire what are the advantages of 
cordial co-operation between the two systems, give 
a slight sketch of the disadvantages of oppositive 
or even of entire indifference toward or disregard 
of each other. 

The first consequence of mere indifference is such 
a mal- adjustment of the courses to each other, as 
renders them mutually exclusive. It becomes neces- 
sary for the parent or guardian to choose almost at 
the outset of education which course his child shall 
pursue, and should changed circumstances or altered 
views permit or demand an exchange in the courses, 
so different have been the studies pursued, that 
months and years of additional time and expense 
will be required. This will of course be felt more 
by those of moderate or scanty means than by the 


Teachers' Association. 


259 


wealthy, and in addition to the difficulties already 
felt in acquiring a longer course of education, will 
turn away many of this class. If you add to this 
the constant influence of the teacher hostile to the 
college course, many more will be turned jpack ; and 
who are those thus turned back ? They are in gen- 
eral the children of those not themselves educated, 
while those who are educated and cultivated feel 
that whatever else they bequeath their children, a 
thorough education is a sine qua non. There springs 
up then a system of caste education, not in all cases 
with the rich on the one hand and the poor on the 
other, though corresponding very nearly to these 
divisions — but between the children of culture, of 
refinement and opportunity on the one hand, and 
on the other, those whose brains must be coined as 
soon as possible into necessary raiment, and bread 
and butter for themselves and their parents. And 
this line of division works mischievously for the 
interests of both parties —on the children of the rich, 
in being taken from the side of the children of the 
poor, where each is made to feel every day, some- 
times by bitter experience, that it is only brains that 
tell ; on the children of the poor and the whole 
common school system, by the stamp of inferiority 
thus fixed on it by its own friends. No greater evil 


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'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


can befall American education than to have the two 
systems become class schools, nor can the enemies 
of the common school system invoke a greater evil 
on it than to fix upon it the plebeian stamp of the 
school of the day laborer. 

Another evil is the growth of private and so-called 
select schools, sapping the very vitals of the common 
school by drawing off its most prominent and 
promising scholars. 

I think it may safely be said that the success and 
patronage of select schools in any place, is in the 
hands of the board of instruction of that place, 
and depends almost entirely on the degree in 
which the public schools meet the felt want of 
the community. 

I have already, by portraying their opposites, 
indicated many of the advantages to flow from a 
vital connection and harmonious co-operation of 
the two systems — such a union as shall bring the 
two in line, so that they form parts of one connected 
whole. First, we have no loss of time. A valuable, 
self-consistent thing has been acquired wherever one 
stops — but more of this hereafter. Second, the 
children of the rich and poor are placed side by side 
and taught each to respect whatever of true man- 
hood there is in the other. We retain too, the 


Teachers' Association. 


261 


quickening influence of the best trained and most 
developed minds among our scholars. Next, instead 
of the distrust, the jealousy and quasi hostility of 
those educated in colleges and universities, we 
have their strong support and hearty co-operation. 
Wherever they are the most fully united, a mighty 
influence cannot but be felt, stimulating, quickening, 
vivifying every department of the common schools 
even to the remotest rural district, and this in turn 
will react upon the college and university, and the 
teachers of each and all be stimulated to better and 
more successful effort. Nor should the direct influ- 
ence upon the scholar himself be overlooked. The 
motto, “ ne plus ultra” “ there is nothing more 
beyond ” was the ruin of Spain, and it will be the 
ruin of any system of education that adopts it. The 
teacher who trains his scholar to believe him the 
embodiment of all human wisdom and acquirement, 
and that his institute embraces all of human thought 
or discovery it is at all worth while to study, is 
derelict to his high duty, and guilty of a crime 
second only to him who murders the innocent wards 
committed to him for protection and training. On 
the other hand, there is nothing more quickening 
and stimulating to intellectual growth and activity, 
than the view of ever growing fields of life and effort, 
in literature, science and art. 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


But I was next to speak of the feasibility of 
a close connection ; and to this point I would 
especially invite your careful attention. 

My first point is this, that the two systems have 
already approximated so far as to be nearly identical 
in aims and modes. 

I have said the college system was fashioned to 
mould and develop the minds, of the thinking and 
governing classes — to train the mind for accurate, 
persistent and long sustained activity. 

For this purpose, the so-called disciplinary 
studies occupied the greater part of the course, 
with only a brief glance during a portion of the 
last two years at the progress of science, and this 
continued true, to a period within the memory of 
many of us. Ask the graduate of twenty years’ 
standing, what is the advantage of a college 
course? he will answer, “the splendid discipline 
it gave me.” Ask the opponent of college education 
not posted in the present attitude of our colleges, 
why he objects to them, he will answer, “ Too much 
time on mere discipline f ” The argument pro and 
con turned on the discipline secured. 

The matter of the colleges if not “discipline first 
and last,” was “discipline first and always, and 
acquirement last and subordinate.” No helpful 


Teachers' Association. 


263 


and suggestive notes were placed in the student’s 
hand — none of our modern appliances offered. 

It would seem as though everything that could 
smooth the way, was grudged, and sometimes as 
though the way was needlessly obstructed with 
difficulties, that the scholar might cultivate his 
strength and ingenuity by working through and out 
of them. But let any one now visit our colleges or 
training schools and he cannot fail to mark an entire 
change in their tone and spirit. The claims of 
science for a larger share of attention are heard, 
and the course in Harvard made elective after the 
first year, to make way for its claims. 

I mention Harvard as the most prominent of our 
universities, and one of such commanding influence 
that whatever attitude it assumes, is certain to be 
adopted sooner or later by the rest. The languages 
themselves are approached in a more philosophical 
spirit, as objects of interest in and for themselves. 
The successful teacher or text-book is constantly 
calling attention to the life of the languages as 
developed in their origin, euphonic changes and 
probable ancient pronunciation — their growth and 
relation to each other and to the English. 

I hazard nothing by the assertion that the gradu- 
ate of the classical department of our Cleveland 


264 


'North-Eastern Ohio 


high schools (or of similar courses) has a greater 
facility in reading the Latin and Greek, and a more 
intimate and practical knowledge of all that per- 
tains to the life of these languages than the average 
college graduate of twenty years ago. The motto 
is no longer “ discipline first, and acquirment 
last,” but “ discipline and acquirement hand in 
hand ” — “discipline in and through acquirement.” 
Whatsoever changes have been made in the common 
schools , have been made in the direction of greater 
accuracy and thoroughness, and such an enlarge- 
ment of the course as to include many of the 
sciences taught in college, and the languages suffi- 
ciently far in many cases to enter college. Both 
have heard the voice of the people in their demand 
for culture and acquirement. If less change has 
been visible in the common school, it is I think, 
because the common school being nearer to the 
people, has first heard their voice ; but the college 
has heard it too, and both have responded to it. If 
then these two parties, once so far separated, have 
become so far reconciled as to sympathize with each 
other in their spirit and aims, may we not reason- 
ably hope that whatever minor differences remain in 
their practical working, will, with patience and wis- 
dom on both sides, in time, entirely disappear ? 


Teachers' Association. 


265 


Let ns then next inquire — What are the obstacles 
in the way of co-operation ? First. A real difficulty 
in the instruction of the Greek. Second. A less 
difficulty in the teaching of the Latin, and one that 
may be in the main obviated. I have already 
spoken of the immense importance to any one who 
would aspire to a clear and definite knowledge of 
the English language, that he make himself familiar 
with its sources in the Latin and Greek. 

Let me advance a step farther. I have often 
advised a young friend who has completed the 
ordinary text-books in arithmetic to take algebra, 
if for only one term, rather than spend time on some 
so called higher arithmetic. His knowledge of 
arithmetic even, becomes more practical and real 
by viewing it from the standpoint of a related 
science. I speak my own experience, and I doubt 
not that of many before me, when I say, that in my 
childhood days, my first clear conception of the 
nature and scope of English grammar was obtained 
from my first term’s study of the Latin. 

We are so constituted that in our habits, in our 
thoughts, in our language, in everything that per- 
tains to ourselves, we must get a standpoint outside 
of ourselves before we can understand and properly 
appreciate ourselves. 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


By handling and shaping a , foreign sentence we se- 
cure the clearer development to the mind, of the idea 
of the sentence as a conscious object of thought, and 
the ability to shape, and lit, and mould it to our wish. 

Add to this that the acquirement of a respectable 
number of root words in its elfect on a knowledge 
of the English is no small consideration. So far 
then from a solitary year spent upon the Latin 
being lost, I believe that no more profitable thing 
could be done than to introduce into our grammar 
schools and make imperative upon all our scholars 
one year’s study of Latin. 

If to this be added the first year in the high 
school, its value would be more than doubled. If 
beyond this, the Latin course be made optional, we 
have taken a long step in the desired direction. W e 
have introduced all the scholars to that which can- 
not but result in clearer conception and clearer 
expression. By means of the year gained by begin- 
ning the Latin in the grammar school, we can vary 
the Latin of the high school by one year more in 
science. But above all, we postpone the day of 
divergence between the two courses. The number 
of classes is diminished, and the students move side 
by side through all the grammar and three-fourths 
of the high school course. 


Teachers' Association. 


267 


But the real difficulty lies in the Greek. Though 
its connection with technical terms in science and 
art is full as great if not greater than the Latin, yet 
it is more remote from the language of ordinary 
life, and appeals therefore less strongly to the aver- 
age scholar. The strangeness of its character and 
the copiousness of its forms, meeting the student at 
the outset, render it still less attractive. So much 
time must be spent on it before it becomes a valu- 
able acquisition in itself, that few take it up unless 
with an eye to its further study in college. Its 
commencement then marks the first point of neces- 
sary divergence between the courses. 

For these and similar reasons a strong pressure 
has been brought upon the college men to induce 
them, First , to remove the Greek from the college 
course. Second . Failing of this, to confine its study 
to the college. That the former will be done, I do 
not believe. Its connection with the Latin as well 
as with the English, is too vital to render it feasible. 
The Latin possessing a force and strength of its 
own, owes and acknowledges its indebtedness to the 
Greek for all its finish and beauty, while the Greek 
is an indigenous growth, owing the marvelous full- 
ness and richness of its efflorescence to no other 
thing than that selfsame love of the beautiful that 


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'Xorlh-JEaslern Ohio 


placed the Greek beyond the rest of the world in 
architecture, painting and sculpture. 

The two with their resemblances and contrasts — 
one the language of might, of majesty and law, the 
other of freedom, of versatility and beauty, make 
such a union of masculine vigor and feminine 
beauty as cannot well, and I believe will not ever 
be separated in a liberal course of study. The 
second alternative, that of confining the Greek to 
the college, is for the present declined. But if the 
public school men will meet the college men half 
way, furnishing the required studies as far and as 
( well as possible, encouraging the young people to 
aspire to more and continually higher culture, and 
if both shall continue to move as they have done, 
in obedience to the call of the people, I believe that 
before many years are past, one of two things will 
prove true — either the demand for the Greek will 
so increase that it shall be seen to have a proper 
and required place in all our high schools, or it 
will be remanded to college halls, and the last 
obstacle be removed to a vital connection and har- 
monious co-operation between the college and the 
common school. 

That such a union may soon be formed and 
forever preserved, is, I doubt not the earnest wish 


Teachers'' Association. 


269 


of every one who has at heart the highest and best 
interests of American education and culture. 


THE EDUCATION OF THE EYE. 

BY A. A. E. TAYLOR, D. D., 

PRESIDENT OF WOOSTER UNIVERSITY. 

At a recent meeting of one of our educational 
associations, a well known and experienced college 
president emphasized the difficulty he has ever 
found in teaching his scholars to see aright. He 
also quoted to the same effect President Barnard, 
of New York — an eminent authority. Every teacher 
who himself has accurate observation, must be con- 
scious of this serious difficulty, and of its hindrance 
to thorough instruction. And yet this is strange 
enough ; for children seem to see everything in the 
world that is to them so new and so entrancing, and 
in which their wonder is constantly awakened by 
the ever-developing visions of knowledge around 
them. 

Parkman, in one of his interesting histories,* 
remarks the well known fact that among all savages 
the powers of perception predominate over those of 


♦Conspiracy of Pontiac. 


270 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


reason and analysis ; but this more especially the 
case with the Indian. He also says : “ Seldom can 
the white man boast in equal measure that subtlety 
of sense, more akin to the instinct of brutes than to 
human reason, which reads the signs of the forest as 
the scholar reads the printed page. The Indian 
would look with scorn on those who, buried in 
useless lore, are blind and deaf to the great world 
of nature.” What is thus natural to the child is 
developed in the savage by the necessities of the life 
of the woods and the peculiar dangers of his con- 
dition. Nature is his only text-book. Is it not a 
fair question whether the education derived from 
the study of books does not tend to destroy this 
dependence of the mind upon the original researches 
of the eye, and to substitute instead, reliance upon 
the written authority of others ? And if this ques- 
tion be answered affirmatively, does it not follow 
that, to guard his scholar against this danger of 
vicarious observation becomes the imperative duty 
of every teacher? It has long ago been remarked 
that it was not without special intention that man 
has been granted two eyes and but one tongue. 
More of seeing than of saying, is one of the secrets 
of nature’s own revealing, on the pathway of 
knowledge. 


Teachers' rtssocialion. 


271 


Shakspeare hints the importance of this accurate 
vision when he makes Claudio in “Much Ado 
About Nothing,” say, 

Let every eye negotiate for itself and trust no agent. 

The Latin quotation is to the same effect : “ Bene 
qui distinguit, bene docit .” He who sees well, 
instructs well. As education cannot create, but 
can only discover and bring to light the hidden 
life, its chief duty would seem to be to teach the 
art of discovery. It is well known that Plato calls 
the feeling with which knowledge must begin, 
wonder , the awakening of the mind to inquiry. 
And Sir John Herschel admirably characterizes 
observation as “passive experience ’’—the transfer 
of the outer life to the life of the soul. The percep- 
tion must precede the conception. The amassing of 
facts by observation is the necessary preparation of 
material from which to work up conclusions and 
systems. And it has been generally so conceded 
ever since Bacon reversed the world’s method of 
reasoning. 

The very use of the word “observe” for 
“remark,” so frequent in all our speech, indi- 
cates the natural necessity of seeing in order to 
declaring. One of the distinguishing features of 


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'NorlTi-Easlern Ohio 


this nervous, impatient age is superficiality. “ It 
inclines,” as one has pointedly said, “to the 
superstition that man is able by means of simple 
intuition to attain a knowledge of the essence of 
things, and thereby dispense with the trouble of 
looking and thinking.” But it is in vain to try to 
get behind things into thoughts, without a penetrat- 
ing gaze that shall ever pierce through the surface 
to the core. 

How much this perpetual watchfulness, this keen 
analysis, has avafied to originate discovery and 
advance science in all it branches, may be readily 
illustrated. Here is a youth whose early days 
have been passed in wandering among the woods 
and rocks of his native Cromarty. At the age of 
twenty he is an humble day-laborer in a quarry, 
bewailing his hard fate. The quarry lies at the 
mouth of a river in the remote highlands. One day 
he discovers a fossil fish of the old red sandstone. 
A fellow laborer, attracted by his curious interest, 
tells him of a spot where lie scattered many such 
remains of a former world. It is to him a new 
intellectual birth. He surrenders himself to the 
fascinating search — he learns to use his eyes — and 
Hugh Miller becomes the prince of geologists and 
the world renowned historian of the Old Bed. 


Teachers' Association. 


273 


Sir Roderic Murchison spends seven years of 
unremitting research among the broken and con- 
torted beds of that forsaken region in North Wales, 
on the banks of the Wye, and renders himself 
forever famous as the discoverer of Silurian system. 

In like manner a certain Frenchman gave himself 
to the persistent study of the fossil animals in the 
plaster quarries of Montmartre, lying neglected at 
the feet of science, in the very gates of Paris, and 
thus became, as it is claimed, the originator of the 
true theory of the history of the earth ; building 
up again out of the fragmentary remains of the 
sepulchres of the past, its living forms ; and inscrib- 
ing his name as Baron Cuvier in the list of 
naturalists, only second to the name of Linnaeus. 
And so in different spheres of science Des Cartes, 
Leibnitz and Herschel, and many scarcely less 
notable names have gained undying fame by bring- 
ing to light, through superior eyes, facts and truths 
long buried in oblivion. 

There is now a professor in one of our American 
colleges, who, unless somebody shall lay violent 
hands upon him to prevent, is likely to discover 
and announce all the stray planets and asteroids, 
and other heavenly bodies, now lying loose around 
the wide expanse of the heavens. May I quote 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


Ruskin to this point? He says, “The truths of 
nature are one eternal change — one infinite variety. 
There is no bush on the face of the globe- exactly 
like another bush ; there are no trees in the forest 
whose boughs bend into the same network ; nor two 
leaves on the same tree which could not be told, one 
from the other; nor two waves in the sea exactly 
alike. And out of this mass of various yet agree- 
ing beauty, it is by long attention alone that the 
conception of the constant character — the ideal 
form hinted at by all, yet assumed by none — is 
fixed upon the imagination for its standard of 
truth.” Now, this very Ruskin himself shall also 
become our example. Hamerton, in that fascinating 
volume, “The Intellectual Life,” has justly said of 
him, “His peculiar position in literature is due to 
his being able to see as cultivated artists see. 
Everything that is best and most original in his 
writing is invariably either an account of what he 
lias seen, in his own independent inimitable way, or 
else a criticism of the accurate or defective sight of 
others.” Ruskin’ s method, as you well know, con- 
sists in drawing and taking accurate memoranda of 
what he desires to know. Some of you will doubt- 
less remember his admiring reference to the man 
who could spend an hour in studying the various 
lines and angles in a pile of ashes. 


Teachers' Association. 


275 


Madame de Stael, on the contrary, developed 
another sense, and substituted educated ears for 
educated eyes. When she had outlined her subject 
for an essay, she persistently led the learned and 
brilliant men by whom she was surrounded to con- 
verse upon the chosen theme and to discuss it 
together. Meanwhile she stood by, quietly gather- 
ing hints, which she noted on the margin of her 
essay, and afterward worked them up together 
into one harmonious literary production. Thus she 
substituted genius in constructiveness for fertility 
of invention. Knowing her method, we are not 
astounded in hearing this celebrated author of 
“Corinne” exclaim, in her impetuous way, that she 
despised civilization because there she knew what 
everybody was like, and what everybody was going 
to do; that “there were no surprises in it;” for 
this illustrates her vast ignorance of civilization ; her 
lack of interest arising from her want of observa- 
tion; for nature herself is not fuller of surprises 
than is civilization. 

Hear sweet Wordsworth sing: 

Nature neyer did betray 
The heart that loved her : ’tis her privilege 
Through all the years of this our life, to lead 
From joy to joy ; for she can so inform 


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The mind that is within us, so impress 
With quietness and beauty, and so feed 
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, 

Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, 

Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb 
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold 
Is full of blessings. 

And well did Wordsworth know, noted as he 
was for his widely extended pedestrian excursions, 
exploring every hill and vale, and pausing to revel 
in every landscape among mountains and lakes. 
Like him too, were Sir Walter Scott amidst his 
native hills, and Goethe riding about as if mad, from 
place to place, to find out all that nature could 
show of herself to his eye. The name of Alexander 
Humboldt also received its luster from those marvel- 
ous and indefatigable explorations, in which he 
found infinitely more than all books could tell him, 
or than he could tell in all his books. It is in this 
that Darwin’s power resides, and upon it rests his 
fame. Look at the inimitable sunsets of Turner. 
You know that he must have studied nature, else he 
never could have produced such exact and fiery 
imitations. But when you stand and patiently 
watch for yourself, the skies on a propitious even- 
ing, before and after sunset, noting the flitting 
shades of the atmosphere, and the constantly 


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changing outlines and tints of the trooping clouds ; 
the intervening sky now fading from blue to green, 
now deepening from green to red, now darkening 
from crimson to brown — then when you shall have 
learned to see for yourself, you will not care to visit 
the galleries, except to admire how well the Unite 
brush can copy the faintest outlying touches of the 
Infinite hand. 

Or, turning again to literature, “if you read 
attentively the work of any truly illustrious poet, 
you will find that the whole of imagery which gives 
power and splendor to his verse is derived from 
nature through the senses.” Some philosophers 
have even gone so far as to affirm that “the entire 
intellectual life is based ultimately upon remembered 
physical sensations ; that we have no mental con- 
ception that is really independent of sensuous 
experience ; and that the most abstract thought is 
only removed from sensation by successive processes 
of substitution.” So highly do those who think 
the deepest, value the power of penetrating sight 
and other quickened senses. There is indeed what 
the poet calls, “The harvest of the quiet eye.” 
What wonderful visions are revealed in the human 
countenance, they little know who have not set 
themselves with diligence to observe. As Lady 


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Macbeth exclaimed to her lord on a certain familiar 
occasion: “Your face, my thane, is as a book, 
where men may read strange matters.” The ever 
changing face of man sets forth the life of thought 
in all its various inner laws and aspects, wherein 
is reflected all the outer world ; just as the world’s 
actual objects and scenes are reconstructed in the 
human eye. 

But we have been illustrating, we fear, at too 
great length only what every teacher, every faithful 
student knows far too well by personal experience. 
And the complaint of each one is the old historical 
refrain, “Oh ! that I could but see as some men see.” 
What criminal ignorance encompasses us all as the 
sentence of our unpardonable neglect of close, 
critical, accurate seeing ! 

Now, when we come to the practical and ever 
recurring question — how shall teachers educate 
youth that they may be made to see for them- 
selves ; the general answer must be the response of 
the painter Opie to the student who inquired with 
what he mixed his colors, “With brains, sir.” 
And we teachers must follow the example of the 
celebrated Etty, in the Royal Academy, when a 
student came asking, “How shall I do this, sir?” 
“Suppose you look,” responded Etty. “But I 


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have looked.” “Suppose you look again.” But 
we may say, in mentioning details, but without 
attempting a thorough treatment of the analysis, 
that it must be the teacher’s persistent effort to train 
the student to concentrate his whole intellectual 
toeing upon the subject in hand. Garvey, in his 
excellent “Manual of Human Culture,” assigns 
two conditions as essential to the cultivation of per- 
ceptiveness. (1.) Attention, and (2.) Sympathetic 
emotion. These relate to the mind and the heart. 
After speaking briefly of these in order, we shall 
take the liberty of modestly adding a third to com- 
plete the intellectual analysis, viz : The command 
of the will. 

1. Attention has been defined as “the adjust- 
ing of the observer to the object that he may seize 
it both in its unity and diversity.” It is leaving 
the mind entirely alone with the object. The mind 
cannot serve two masters ; if it have two masters it 
will serve neither. The exercise of the faculty of 
observation in a single thought or thing, is essential 
to accurate seeing. This requires a concentration of 
the eyesight of the mind. The eye simply opened 
without special direction takes in everything within 
the circle of its vision. Even so the mind opened, 
wanders over every subject within range, until some 


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one more attractive than the others fixes its thought 
and binds it to itself. When it sees everything it 
has only a vague, general vision of anything, and 
no definite impression remains. But this incessant 
wandering of the mind is natural, and the power of 
attention is only gained by long and exacting 
training. Therefore, to fix the steadfast unflinching 
mental gaze of the pupil upon the single thought or 
thing, is to be the first object of the teacher’s train- 
ing. To dissipate distracting thoughts, and hold 
the mind chained to a solitary subject, requires the 
exercise of the same power in perfect control by the 
teacher. N o one can teach a child to think, who 
does not with intense concentration, think also 
himself. “One thing I do” — this is the law of 
attention. In teaching my own child geography in 
an amateur pedagogy, I have experimented by 
taking a sheet of blank paper and cutting out two 
spaces just large enough to show through them 
the names of the state and its capital for instance, 
and then have spread the same over the map, 
leaving only the names “North Carolina” and 
“Raleigh;” or “Ohio” and “Columbus” visible; 
then I have written these names on the blackboard 
and let the boy write them alone on a blank sheet, 
and so study them by themselves, as if North 


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Carolina and Raleigh, or Ohio and Columbus were 
the only words in the world. One thing learned at 
a time in this way will lead to many things being 
learned eventually, and so impressed upon the eye 
and the mind as to become indelible. 

2. And then besides attention, we must have 
sympathetic emotion — or the action of the heart as 
well as of the head, to give double seeing to the 
eye. The naked fact that impressions are most 
deeply engraved upon the mind when the feelings 
have been excited, is one of universal experience. 
Peril offers perhaps the highest illustration of this 
truth. The boy never forgets the day when he was 
chased by the bull. The whole scene — the nature 
and nearness of the fence of refuge, the pathway 
along which he flew, that terrible engine of life 
and death driving on behind, his emotion of terror 
and relief — all glow with an unfading light in his 
mind. They were burned in by the intense emotion 
of the moment. So in a milder experience, the 
sweet scenes of childhood, some charming spring, 
some favorite play, some Robinson Crusoe in its 
first appearance — these are the thoughts and scenes 
that abide. Now the eye that would learn to see 
must be taught to love to see, or to see with loving 
gaze. The lesson that is beaten in with the switch 


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will be remembered ; that is the switch especially, 
will remain vividly fixed upon the memory, and the 
lesson may ' steal in along with the terror of the 
rod. Bat unless the lesson be loved it will sooner 
be forgotten ; since it is in our better nature to put 
away from us the things we dislike and those of 
uncongenial memories. To awaken an interest 
sympathetic and ardent as may be possible for the 
object or thought to be seen, is one of the teacher’s 
invaluable methods. It may be curiosity that shall 
arouse feeling, it may be ambition to excel ; but 
when aroused the feeling should be turned into a 
channel of sympathy for subject or object in hand. 
So will the pupil learn to love seeing for its own 
sake, and thus only learn to see. 

3. But now about the concentration of the will 
in the direction of that which is to be observed. It 
may be thought that this point has been sufficiently 
covered in the treatment of the feelings; for we will 
to do usually what we are taught to love to do. It 
is true that the will, as well as the mind, is thus 
seduced by the feelings to close attention to the 
object. But I would modestly suggest that aside 
from this, there should be a faithful and zealous 
attempt upon the part of teachers to instruct and 
persuade pupils to gain such mastery over their 


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own wills as may enable them to hold a subject in 
hand m et armAs. Let the pupils fully understand 
that they can never perfectly secure the attention of 
the mind and the sympathy of the feelings, unless 
they gain control of that will that lies powerful and 
commanding behind both intellect and sensibility. 
Let them know that they have a will that is master, 
in fact, of their other faculties, and that they can 
never succeed until they master this will for them- 
selves, and hold the reins with steady hands. Not 
referring now to moral questions, but solely to 
educational interest, I would aver this to be a 
matter of the highest consequence. He only sees 
who wills, with all his strength of purpose, to see. 
He may try to give attention, he may be somewhat 
interested in the object, but for all that, he will not 
see deeply into it or know it thoroughly, until he 
has arisen in majesty and right royally determined 
and decreed that he will exhaust the seeing of 
it. Feebleness of will resulting from ignoring its 
existence as a faculty to be trained just as the rea- 
soning faculty is trained — feebleness of will, is the 
prevalent secret of shallow scholarship, of superfi- 
cial sight. To rally the will, to awaken the feelings, 
to fix the mind — these, then, are the lessons to be 
practiced in learning to see, in learning to think. 


4 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


Now, patient friends, pardon me if I have seemed 
to speak only familiar and crude words, whose 
truth your own experience may have taught you 
far sooner and far better than any second-hand 
dealer could teach them. Desiring more to give you 
the sympathy of my obedient presence at your call, 
than the instruction of a higher knowledge or of a 
deeper experience, these thoughts are thrown across 
your path for you to use as you may deem them 
either weeds or flowers. Accept my congratulations 
upon the success of your noble Association, my 
sincere desires for its future prosperity, and my 
thanks for the privilege of appearing among you as 
an humble member of that self-sacrificing and 
devoted fraternity which seeks to confer the intel- 
lectual power of its own generation upon the young, 
for use in the generation that is to come. 


CURIOSITY AS A MOTIVE POWER IN 
EDUCATION. 

BY JOHN BOLTON, CLEVELAND. 

“We have,” says Lord Karnes, “daily and 
constant experience for our authority, that no 
man ever proceeds to action but by means of some 


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antecedent desire or impulse. So well established 
is this observation, and so deeply rooted in the 
mind, that we can scarcely imagine a different 
system of action. Even a child will say familiarly, 

‘ What should make me do this or that, when I 
have no desire to do it?’” The desires are, 
therefore, the motive powers, the mainsprings of 
action to the mind. They put the powers of the 
soul in motion, and without them the world of 
mind would be one universal scene of stagnation. 
It is true we have intellect, but intellect is, at best, 
but the compass that guides and directs ; the desires 
are the winds that waft. 

Not only is it true that the desires are the main- 
springs of action, but it is also true, that in mental, 
moral and physical action, the quality of the action 
is determined by the desire that prompts it. An 
action is delightful or irksome, enduring or fitful, 
noble or ignoble, according to the character of the 
desire which was its antecedent. While the same 
action may follow many different desires as motives, 
I believe it is also true that the action will prove to 
be of the highest quality when it follows the desire 
which is its natural and direct antecedent. A virtu- 
ous action is truly virtuous only when it has been 
prompted by a love of virtue. An act of patriotism 


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is of highest value, when it proceeds from a genuine 
love of country. Is it not also true that the act of 
learning is of highest value when it springs directly 
from a love of knowledge T It is of this love of 
knowledge that I wish to speak under the name of 
curiosity. 

Unfortunately, curiosity has been used in a bad 
sense, as that feeling which prompts us to pry into 
the affairs of others about which we should not wish 
to know ; and as an idle inquisitive temper which 
renders us burdensome to others. It is from such 
meanings attached to the word that many persons 
are apt to shrink from the suggestion of stimulating 
curiosity, and to feel that children should rather be 
taught early to suppress so inquisitive a disposition. 
In another sense, it may refer to those feelings or 
emotions caused by that which is new to perception, 
without any reference to the desire to know that 
which is unknown. In this sense, it is akin to the 
feelings expressed by wonder, astonishment, awe, 
and the like, which are generally unattended by 
desire of any kind. It has, however, in another and 
higher sense, been recommended to the teacher by 
one who is entitled to speak with authority, as the 
“ most effectual of all means for securing the im- 
provement of the mind.” “To acquire knowledge 


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or to discover truth,” says Dugald Stewart, “is the 
proper object of curiosity — a principle of action 
which is coeval with the first operations of the 
intellect, and which, in most minds, continues 
through life to have a powerful influence, in one 
way or another, on the character and conduct.” 

It is in this last sense of having truth for its 
object that I wish to use it. It is peculiarly active 
in childhood, and is the power which, under the 
guidance of nature, has done so much for the 
child during the first few years of its life. It 
manifests itself in the thousand questions which 
children ask of those around them ; in the delight 
with which they look at what is new to them ; and 
in the eagerness with which they lay hold of and 
scrutinize whatever they do not understand. No 
one can witness the restless activity of children in 
this respect, and not be convinced that they have 
planted in them this instinct for knowledge for wise 
purposes, which, if kept alive and directed to proper 
objects, may become in the hands of the teacher a 
power of the highest importance in fitting them for 
the active duties of life. It has been the theme of 
writers on education, who have recognized its 
importance, and urged its study by teachers of 
every grade. Mr. J. M. Wilson, of Rugby, says: 
“ There are mental instincts as well as there are 


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bodily instincts. * * * But the mental instincts are 
almost ignored in the art of education. One of 
these . instincts is curiosity. It is a mental phe- 
nomenon which the skillful master studies, and a 
power which he turns to account in the education 
of the boy. It is the one principle which makes 
self-education possible.” . Mr. J. D. Philbrick, of 
Boston, in speaking of the importance of object 
teaching in exciting curiosity, says: ‘‘Perhaps, it 
would not be extravagant to say, that any method 
is good or bad just in proportion as it tends to 
stimulate or repress this principle of action.” He 
further says: “In all the instructions imparted, and 
in all the studies pursued in our schools, it should 
be the constant aim of the teacher to awaken, stimu- 
late and strengthen this curiosity, and to turn it 
to useful pursuits.” Says Archbishop Whately : 
“Curiosity is as much the mother of attention, as 
attention is of memory ; therefore the first business 
of the teacher — first not only in point of time, but of 
importance — should be to excite, not merely a 
general curiosity upon the subject of study, but a 
particular curiosity on particular points of that 
subject. To teach one who has no curiosity to learn, 
is to sow a field without plowing it.” Locke recog- 
nizes it as an appetite after knowledge, and as a 
great instrument nature has provided to remove that 


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ignorance children were born with, and lays down 
rules for its encouragement. Mr. Stewart, whom I 
have already quoted, says of its importance : “ It is 
the principle which puts the intellectual faculties in 
motion, and gives that exercise which is necessary 
to their development and improvement. I wish to 
impress on all those who have any connection with 
the education of youth, the great importance of 
stimulating curiosity, and of directing it to proper 
objects as the most effectual of all means for 
securing the improvement of the mind.” 

According to the views thus set forth, the 
development of the mind is not to be brought 
about by the exercise of some external force draw- 
ing out in some indefinable way the dormant powers 
of the mind ; but this work is mainly accomplished 
by this actuating principle which, with the fostering 
care of the true teacher, will push those faculties 
into a state of healthful activity in due order and 
proportion. The object of education is to render 
the child a willing and efficient co-worker in his 
own improvement — a zealous and successful seeker 
after truth. Every step in the work of education 
should be taken, not so much for the step itself, as 
for the power developed tending to enable the pupil 
to take the next step for himself. And, again, it is 


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not so much for the knowledge gained by any act of 
observation, for example, nor, indeed, for the power 
acquired to observe, as it is for the desire awakened 
in the mind of the pupil to observe again ; since, 
without this desire, the knowledge gained will soon 
be forgotten, and the acquired power soon dis- 
sipated. Care should in all cases be had, before 
knowledge is communicated, that a desire for that 
knowledge be awakened in the pupil, and that it 
should be imparted in such manner, in such 
quantity, and at such time, as to leave the desire 
stronger than it was before, requiring less effort on 
the part of the teacher to arouse it the 4 second time. 

The efficiency of the teacher’s work does not 
depend so much upon what has been done for the 
pupil, as it does upon what he can and will do for 
himself when left entirely free from the prompting 
influences of the school. If books and apparatus 
are necessary to the highest success of the school, 
how much more necessary is it that the pupil have 
a desire, a purpose to learn % If it is necessary to 
impart knowledge to him, how much more necessary 
is it that he should consent to receive it ? 

The full recognition of the importance of curiosity 
in the teacher’ s work would lead to the considera- 
tion of the importance of a pupil’s affection 


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291 


for knowledge — a consideration too frequently left 
out of the question altogether. It is one thing to 
study the rose scientifically, and another to be 
moved by it as an object of beauty ; one thing to 
know the rose, and another to love it. It is one 
thing to be able to give all its plant characteristics, 
and another more important to fee made happy by 
its presence. I imagine that many a scientific 
botanist is no better than simple Peter Bell, of 
whom it was said : 

/ 

The primrose by the river’s brim, 

A yellow primrose was to him, 

And it was nothing more. 

But in a system of education which makes it a 
prime object to awaken and sustain curiosity, this 
affection for natural objects is the very starting 
point seized upon to raise the emotion which is the 
essential part of desire ; and the objects and sub- 
jects for mental activity are so presented as to excite 
the feeling of wonder or surprise which leads to the 
desire to know what was before unknown. 

The feeling expressed in the child’s address to 
the star, 

Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 

How I Wonder what yon are, 


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should be roused and kept alive long before the 
question is answered scientifically, which would not 
be long, I imagine, in these days of science made 
easy; and yet a living, growing wonder in the 
child’s mind would be better than a wonder satisfied 
with what must, in most cases, be to him a super- 
ficial answer. Mr. Dugald Stewart very justly 
disapproves a common practice, “that of communi- 
cating to children general and superficial views of 
science and history by means of popular introduc- 
tions.” “In this way,” he says, “we rob their 
future studies of all that interest which can render 
study agreeable, and reduce the mind in the pursuit 
of science to the same state of listlessness and lan- 
guor as when we toil through the pages of a tedious 
novel, after being made acquainted with the final 
catastrophe.”* It should be more the teacher’s 


* In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper, this pass- 
age was strongly objected to as being opposed to the introduction of 
science in scho >ls, but I fear I was in fault in the brevity and imperfection 
of my treatment of the subject. Knowledge serves a two-fold purpose ; 
for information and for discipline. When knowledge is used for disci- 
pline, we are to withhold much as a prize to be earned by the pupil’s 
exertion. A celebrated philosopher once said: “Did the Almighty, 
holding in his right hand Truth , and in his left Search after Truth , deign to 
tender me the one I might prefer, in all humility but without hesitation, 
I should request Search after Truth.” This feeling does not belong alone 
to the philosopher. It is an instinct quite as general and as powerful in 
the human mind as curiosity itself, and should be so recognized in our 
systems of education. It will be observed that the point of Mr. Stewart’s 
objection is in depriving the pupil of the pleasure of earning the prize, by 
giving it to him at once without exertions on his part. He would not rob 


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293 


work to create an appetite for knowledge than to 
satiate it. 

It would seem to me that in our judgment of the 
pupil’s progress, we ought to rely less upon that 
most fallacious of all tests, the results of examina- 
tions, as expressed in percentage tables, and more 
upon the pupil’s growing interest in studies, and 
upon his increasing power and willingness to help 
himself in his work as he advances from grade to 
grade. If in the higher grades there is »a manifest 
decrease of interest, so that there is greater need of 
coercive influences to secure the accomplishment of 
work ; if we find, as a general rule, that our scholars, 
if left to themselves, would gladly throw their books 
aside, and give their studies to the winds; if the 
graduates of our schools show by their disposition 
toward learning that they thank their stars that 
their education is at last finished — I say, if we find 
as a rule, that all this is true, then there must be 
something wrong, either in the school work which 
can produce no better results, or in the doctrine of 
the existence of curiosity as I have defined it, and 

him of the pleasures of the chase by putting him in possession of the 
game without the chase. It is not the novel he would withhold, but he 
would not give the final catastrophe before the reader had followed the 
train of events in the plot which led to that catastrophe. Neither would 
he deprive the pupil of scientific knowledge, but he would not give him 
the net products of investigation without having him, in part at least, go 
through the investigation leading to those results. 


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of its susceptibility of improvement ; but let us not 
as educators throw aside the doctrine because it 
may be the easier of the two to get rid of. 

In conclusion, if we could, in the language of 
Bishop Potter, “Infuse into the mind a principle of 
enduring activity and curiosity, such that it shall 
ever be awake in quest of light, never counting 
itself to have apprehended, but pressing forward 
toward higher truths, and larger knowledge,” then 
we should confidently expect the following results : 

First. Scholars would remain in school for a 
greater length of time. 

Second. A more extended course of study could 
be more easily accomplished with less worry, at 
least, and with less injury to the health of pupils. 

Third. In whatever sphere of life pupils might 
afterward move, the work of self-education would 
go on, as leisure and opportunity might afford. 

Fourth. The mind being preoccupied by an 
abiding interest in the pursuit of knowledge, the 
ranker growth of habits of vice and immorality, of 
greed of gain and lust of power, would be excluded, 
thus securing moral results such as we could not 
otherwise expect. 


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SOME REASONS WHY DRAWING SHOULD 
BE TAUGHT IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

BY L. S. THOMPSON, SANDUSKY. 

Although drawing is finding its way into many 
of our best schools, its entrance has not been undis- 
puted, nor its stay entirely unmolested. 

This fact, together with the conviction that 
drawing should find a welcome place in all our 
public schools, constitutes a sufficient reason why 
the question above announced should be considered 
by so dignified a body of educators as the North- 
Eastern Ohio Teachers’ Association, 

In order that any new subject shall be introduced 
into our schools with universal consent, it must 
satisfy the two classes into which educators may be 
divided. One class of instructors judges the worth 
of a study by its practical utility in every day life. 
If a new study presents itself for admission into 
our schools, such questions as these are asked : Of 
what use is it? Will it enable its possessor to earn 
money? Can he, by means of it, win his daily 
bread any easier than at present ? Will it give him 
power or influence in -the world ? 


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Another class of educators considers the disci- 
plinary uses of a study of more consequence than 
the knowledge gained. This class would question 
new candidates for favor thus : Will it strengthen 
the mind so as to enable it to grapple more readily 
with the problems of life? Will it increase the 
power of perception, conception, imagination, judg- 
ment or reason ? In short, will it assist in advancing 
man in the scale of human progress ? 

If the subject of drawing be rationally presented 
to either of these classes of educators, we shall 
have no fears as to the answer to be received. 

The utilitarian will readily acknowledge that 
there is no person, whatever his profession, but, at 
times, has need of drawing to render his ideas more 
intelligible to others. The necessity of this art to 
the engineer, architect, carpenter, mason, machinist, 
engraver, painter, and in fact to every artisan, male 
or female, who is engaged in the construction of 
objects combining taste with fitness, or beauty with 
utility, must be obvious to all. When we still fur- 
ther consider the scarcity of skilled artisans, and the 
demand for such, caused by our increase of mechan- 
ical and manufacturing establishments all over the 
country, the utilitarian will place drawing and design- 
ing at the very head of the list of his required studies. 


Teachers' Association. 


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On the other hand the disciplinarian has always 
regarded drawing as an aid in lifting the mind 
above the lower forms of enjoyment to those of a 
more rational character. The practice of drawing, 
when properly ta light, requires the exercise of the 
higher faculties of the mind, such as the power of 
imagination, ideality, invention, comparison, judg- 
ment, etc., etc. “It opens new fields of enjoyment, 
new powers of comprehension, and a broader basis 
for a correct understanding and a sound judgment 
of whatever belongs to human experience.” 

With these general remarks let us enter more 
into details. Let us consider the influence of draw- 
ing upon the ordinary school work. We believe 
that teachers themselves, from the fact, no doubt, 
that their attention has not been called to it, are not 
fully impressed with the value of drawing in an 
educational course. They do not seem to under- 
stand that it is intimately connected with all other 
studies, and instead of robbing them of precious 
time, it is sharpening and toning up the faculties 
for the more ready acquirement of other knowledge. 

Reading is indispensable in our schools, and 
must be taught. Hence, anything that will hasten 
the process of teaching reading should be respect- 
fully considered. Drawing does assist in this 


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process. How? In reading we are obliged to 
name words, which are definite forms, at sight. 
We recognize words by their forms, or shapes. 
Drawing trains the eye to distinguish forms. It is 
the language of form. Therefore it has a direct 
influence in teaching children to read. 

Until our wise men, who are now discussing the 
subject, shall produce a reform in spelling, we must 
continue to teach it as it is, at a great sacrifice of 
precious time. Children who are trained in draw- 
ing, learn to spell more rapidly than others, because 
we remember the spelling of words by their 
appearances or forms. Good spelling depends 
much upon a good memory for forms. Memory 
drawing educates and strengthens the power to 
recall forms, and thus bears directly upon the 
teaching of spelling. 

Until we can all be provided with a pocket 
automatic writing machine, we must continue to 
teach children to form words with pencil and pen. 
Drawing is the elder sister of writing, and they 
mutually aid each other. The same quick eye and 
the same skillful hand are necessary in both. 

Geography is not only a useful study but a 
refining one also. Not many of us can travel at 
will over the face of the fair earth, to observe for 


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299 


ourselves the shapes of continents, islands, seas and 
gulfs. We must study maps. But experience 
teaches that gazing at maps only is not the 
quickest method of fixing their forms in the 
memory. Next to traveling from place to place 
and observing their situations, and the courses of 
rivers, the best thing is to draw maps and locate 
these places on them. Hence, the best teachers 
teach geography by means of drawing. 

Drawing assists in the study of arithmetic. It is 
not only useful as a means of illustration to the eye, 
but it cultivates the power of concentration which is 
indispensable in the study of arithmetic. The power 
of abstraction is the chief mathematical faculty, and 
probably no school exercise has ever been invented, 
better calculated to lead the mind away from the 
concrete to the abstract, than that of inventive 
drawing and designing. 

In the study of geometry, beginners generally 
find difficulty in realizing that the lines they see on 
a flat surface represent anything but lines. They 
fail frequently to see that a form or volume is 
represented. It is not a matter of theory only, but 
of fact as well, that a training in drawing assists 
much in a rapid acquisition of geometry. Geometry 
is the science of form. Drawing teaches the practi- 
cal and sensible representation of it. 


300 


North-Eastern Ohio 


The Latin, the Greek and other languages in 
which the meaning and relation of words often 
depend on minute differences in termination or 
inflection, are much more readily learned by those 
who have had the eye and attention cultivated by a 
systematic course in drawing. 

Drawing is the handmaid to all the natural 
sciences. Botany, physiology, geology, natural 
history, etc., cannot be pursued in the best way 
without drawing. The drawing of leaves, stems, 
fruits, and flowers of plants, the different parts of 
animals and the human body, serve to fix their 
forms in the mind better than it is possible to do 
in any other way. The observation necessary to 
draw a form serves to place that form in the mind 
and imagination, while the attempt to represent it 
by lines and shadows, corrects errors of observation. 

The close connection which we have attempted 
to show exists between drawing and all school 
studies, may tempt some to say that any study 
helps all others. This, to a certain extent, is true. 
But we believe that no other subject than drawing, 
except language, is so intimately associated with all 
legitimate school work. Drawing is a language, a 
universal language, read and understood by all 
mankind of whatever nationality or tongue. What- 
ever argument may be used in favor of the study of 


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301 


language in general, both for practical use and as a 
means of culture, may be used, possibly in a more 
limited measure, in favor of drawing. 

To consider the subject more generally, attention, 
or the power of fixing the mind on some particular 
subject and holding it there, is necessary for success 
in the pursuit of all knowledge, or for success in any 
department of life. When drawing is properly 
taught the power of attention is directly cultivated. 
It is constantly making demands for close and 
continued observation. It requires accurate com- 
parisons between different objects and the different 
parts of the same object. The repeated and 
agreeable exercise of this faculty becomes a fixed 
habit of the mind, in time, and is unconsciously 
used in all after life in reference to all objects 
of investigation, to the great advantage of its 
possessor. When invention and composition in 
drawing are taught, as they may be, in our schools, 
they become powerful aids in the cultivation of the 
taste, reason, and imagination. When by simple 
and progressive exercises, children discover that 
they have the power to create new forms and 
designs, the imagination becomes active, and the 
whole mind is aroused to greater activity in the 
pursuit of abstract knowledge. Closely allied to 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


this is the power of conception. The children 
should be taught to remember forms, and by 
rearranging them in their minds, to form mental 
pictures which may be represented by drawing. 
From the formation of concepts of this kind it is 
only an easy step to the formation of concepts in 
other departments of thought. 

It is this power of conception that enables a 
mechanic or artisan to “see in space;” that is, to 
see the form he would produce in the rude material 
in which he works. It enables the wagon-maker to 
see the hub and other parts of a wheel in the wood 
from which he makes them. By this power the 
potter sees the beautiful vase in the clay before 
him. 

The still higher exercise of this power is beauti- 
fully illustrated by an anecdote told of Michael 
Angelo. As he was one day rambling, in his holiday 
attire, with some friends, in an out-of-the-way street 
in Florence, he suddenly turned aside to a block of 
marble, nearly covered with dirt and rubbish, and 
began to work upon it to remove the mire in which 
it lay. His friends seeing nothing but a worthless 
piece of rock asked him in astonishment what he 
was going to do with it. “ Oh ! there’s an angel in 
the stone,” was his answer, “and I must get it 


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303 


out.” He had it taken to his studio, where with 
much patience and labor with mallet and chisel, “ he 
let the angel out.” “What to others was but a 
rude, unsightly mass of stone, to his educated eye 
was the buried glory of art ; and he discovered at a 
glance what might be made of it. A mason would 
have put it into a stone wall ; a cartman would have 
used it in filling in, or to grade the streets ; but he 
transformed it into a creation of genius, and gave it 
a value for ages to come/’ 

Teachers sometimes urge against the introduction 
of drawing, that there is no time. We wish it dis- 
tinctly understood, however, that drawing does not 
seek admission into our schools for the purpose of 
diminishing attainments in other branches of useful 
study, but as a handmaid to all of them, and as a 
relief from over-study. Parents sometimes com- 
plain that we as superintendents and teachers have 
been driving their children through the mazes of 
reading, word method, phonic method, writing, 
spelling, mental arithmetic, written arithmetic, 
geography, map drawing, object lessons, including 
botany lessons, physiology lessons, physics, com- 
positions, language lessons,, grammar lessons, etc., 

*v 

etc., with a speed, little, if any, less than dangerous 
to their health and constitutions. Drawing comes 


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North- Eastern Ohio 


in not to increase this speed, but to moderate it, by 
relaxing the mind and improving and enlivening 
our methods of instruction ; by furnishing more for 
the hands to do while the excited brain is compara- 
tively at rest. We plead then for the introduction 
of drawing in behalf of the children in our schools 
who are in danger of being over- worked. 

Having attempted to show that the study of 
drawing more than pays for its time and cost, in its 
favorable influence on the studies already in our 
schools, we shall now attempt to show that it is not 
only valuable inside of the school room, but that, 
outside of it, it has a practical bearing on most of 
the professions and avocations of life, and emi- 
nently deserves the name of ‘‘bread-winner.” 

It is generally supposed that not much skill is 
required to dig a ditch. Let us, for a moment, see 
what effect drawing will have upon the work of the 
ditch-digger. If he has been taught to draw, he 
can dig a straighter and better ditch and do it in 
less time than if he has had no instruction of this 
kind. Why? Because his trained eye sees at a 
glance just what is to be done. He knows when he 
is digging too deep or not deep enough, and wastes 
no time in making mistakes to be corrected after- 
ward. Such a man, working in the company of a 


Teachers' dissociation. 


305 


dozen companions, soon shows his superiority and 
is selected to oversee the work of others, while his 
fellow- workmen, with stronger muscles, it may be, 
but with less skill, are obliged to work under him 
for less wages than he receives. 

The carpenter who understands drawing plans 
and lays out work for those who cannot do so, and 
receives his reward in better wages and the increased 
confidence of those who have building to be done. 
He has the prospect before him of becoming an 
architect of the first class, while his ignorant com- 
panion continues to plod through life without any 
prospect of advancement. 

The blacksmith who can draw, can also work 
more skilfully than the one who cannot. He gets 
the work that pays the highest price, while the 
man who works by “rule of thumb” does the 
drudgery of his trade and receives lower wages. 
He has the foundation for becoming, with practice, 
a skilful artificer in iron rivaling the works of the 
middle ages. 

The stone mason who has been trained to draw, 
becomes something more than a day laborer who 
lays down his zinc pattern, made by another, and, 
after marking around it, clips away the stone until 
it is the right shape. He becomes the skilled carver, 


20 


306 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


perhaps he makes designs and patterns of his own 
and thus becomes the expert artisan. 

The wagon maker, the cabinet maker, the ma- 
chinist, and every kind of mechanic, each and all, 
daily and hourly, use the same kind of skill in 
judging of forms, lines and curves that a proper 
training in drawing gives. 

Again, in connection with these trades and pro- 
fessions, this fact, demonstrated hundreds of times, 
by actual experience, should not be overlooked : 
that a boy who has been trained to draw from child- 
hood, will learn any of the foregoing trades, or any 
other mechanical business, in about one-half of the 
time that is required by the boy of equal talent, but 
having no previous instruction in drawing. This 
point becomes still more important when taken in 
connection with another well known fact, that, 

4 ‘owing to the abandonment of the old system of 
apprenticeship, by which young persons were 
trained to become skillful workmen in the various 
employments and trades, and from the bitter oppo- 
sition of trades unions to the training of youth in 
their various occupations, it has become almost 
impossible for a parent to procure for his children 
such industrial training as will make them skillful 
artisans.” 


Teachers' Association. 


307 


It were useless for us to show that such occupa- 
tions as that of the civil engineer, engraver, fresco 
painter, etc., cannot exist without drawing. 

It may be said that in this enumeration of the 
advantages of drawing to the different mechanical 
trades and employments, we have left out the 
farmer, the most numerous class of all occupations. 
But to the ambitious farmer, a skilled eye and 
trained hand cannot be useless. A knowledge of 
drawing enables him the better to lay off his 
grounds and divide his fields. By it he plans his 
houses and barns, adapting them to their circum- 
stances and uses. By it he describes with lines, 
as well as words, “the peculiar vegetation, the 
name of which he does not know, and the kind of 
insect which destroys his crops.” By it he will 
make straighter corn rows, keep his fences and 
gates in better order, and there will be an appear- 
ance of order and good taste about his premises 
that will not only be pleasant and gratifying to the 
eye, but will add a money value to his farm. 

Thus far we have considered the practical uses 
of drawing, outside of the school room, to boys and 
men. Why teach drawing to the girls ? Most 
women are intimately connected with housekeeping. 
They either keep house for themselves or others, 


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or are called upon to decide when it is well done. 
Much of the difference between good and bad 
housekeeping consists in the amount of taste and 
skill displayed in the arrangement of furniture, 
pictures and other household effects. The woman 
of taste and training, though poor, makes a more 
pleasing and satisfying home than her rich neigh- 
bor without this culture. The mother trained to 
draw in her youth will cut out clothes for her 
children or others, not only so as to be more 
pleasing, but also in a more economical manner. 
When drawing and designing have been well taught 
in our schools for some time, we shall find women 
becoming engravers and designers of ornaments for 
calico printing, carpets, oil cloths, wall paper, etc. 
Thus many light employments, requiring taste and 
skill rather than strength, and which have hitherto 
been monopolized by men, will be open to women. 
“In London more than a thousand girls earn a 
handsome living by making designs for illustrated 
books, prints, etc.” 

We might go on and multiply examples of 
trades and professions that are directly benefited 
by the training that drawing gives, but we think 
enough has been said to convince most thinking 
persons that drawing is not an accomplishment, as 


Teachers' Association. 


309 


many suppose, but one of the most practical of all 
studies in common or high school courses. 

Having shown that drawing is highly beneficial 
to the individual, let us consider its influence upon 
state and national prosperity. 

The history of the world is a history of conflicts. 
Far too many of them have been upon fields of 
battle, amid the hissing of bullets and the roar of 
cannon. Hitherto nations have tried to excel each 
other in the invention and use of war implements. 
They have measured each other’s power and influ- 
ence in the world by the number of vessels of war 
in their navies and the number of soldiers in their 
standing armies. 

Of late years, however, industrial conflicts have 
been absorbing the attention of the leading nations. 
They are struggling with each other for the 
supremacy in the markets of the world. European 
nations have foreseen the importance of these con- 
tests, and for twenty-five or thirty years have been 
earnestly engaged in preparing for these bloodless 
battles. Not by the casting of cannon and the 
building of iron steamers, but by the creation of 
museums filled with the rarest and most costly 
products of industrial art ; by the establishment 
of art schools, which are drawing schools of high 


310 


North-Eastern Ohio 


grade ; by arming every boy and girl with a lead 
pencil and teaching them how to use it. It has long 
since been proclaimed that “The pen is mightier 
than the sword,” but we have yet to learn prac- 
tically that “the pencil is the most efficient ally 
of the needle-gun.” 

In our own country we have been absorbed in 
building railroads, telegraphs, and the ruder neces- 
sities of civilization ; also in the accumulation of 
wealth. Having had some success in these directions, 
we find the number of persons engaged in such 
occupations as are calculated to make life more 
comfortable, and such as are calculated to adorn 
our homes and embellish our lives, are more 
rapidly increasing than those engaged in providing 
for our actual necessities. W e find as a consequence 
that the population of the cities and towns is gaining 
on that of the country. We may not like this 
tendency, but we cannot prevent it so long as the 
invention of labor-saving machines continues. Our 
nation cannot be prosperous if our cities and towns 
are prostrated, as agriculture must have consumers 
for its products. Cities and towns cannot flourish 
without manufactures. Manufactures cannot exist 
without drawing, or the cultivation of the eye, the 
hand, and the taste which comes from drawing. 


Teachers' Association. 


311 


The more artistic the manufacture the more need of 
drawing, and the more profitable the manufacture 
becomes to state or nation. Art manufactures have 
the advantage over ruder ones, for several reasons. 
They have the advantage in transportation. “It 
costs but little to transport skill and taste, but a 
great deal, comparatively, to transport ignorance 
and raw material.” 

Artistic manufactures have the advantage, be- 
cause they produce a better population — a better 
population, because more intelligent — more intel- 
ligent, because artistic manufactures cannot be 
produced without intelligence. Such a population 
has more money, more comfort, more refinement. 
It has more money because it is better paid. It 
spends more for churches, schools and the higher 
wants of the mind. Tradesmen and farmers also 
share in the prosperity of the artisan class. 

W e said the different nations are competing with 
each other, and watching each other’s movements 
upon the field of art industry, as eagerly as ever 
they have done so on the field of battle. This 
matter of competition is becoming of overwhelming 
importance. Owing to the multiplication of rail- 
roads, steamships and telegraphs, our competitors 
are not our neighbors only, but “the whole world 


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beyond the seas and on the opposite side of the 
planet.” Distance counts less and less every year, 
while skill rises in value in the same ratio. It 
is of the utmost importance, then, that we know 
what other nations and states are doing in this 
matter of drawing and industrial art training. If 
your antagonist is armed with a revolver, you do 
not care to meet him in deadly conflict, if armed 
only with a pop-gun. If European nations are 
sending forth into their workshops thousands of 
trained artisans every year, we cannot cope with 
them by native ability alone. We cannot protect 
our home market, by tariffs. Tariffs may prevent 
our buying what our higher tastes desire, by 
excluding it from the market, but cannot force us 
to buy that which our taste condemns. “There is 
but one way for any country to meet foreign com- 
petition in its home market, and that is, to put as 
much taste and skill in its home manufacture as 
the foreigner puts into his.” 

Let us inquire what some of the leading foreign 
countries are doing for the advancement of art 
manufactures. 

“At the Universal Exposition of 1851, England 
found herself, by general consent, almost at the 
bottom of the list, among all the countries of the 


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313 


world, in respect of her art manufactures. Only 
the United States among the great nations stood 
below her.” 

She became alarmed at this state of affairs and 
appointed commissioners to investigate the cause. 
She discovered that her competitors were giving 
more attention to industrial drawing than she 
had been doing. She immediately established art 
schools all over the kingdom. At the Exposition of 
1862 she found she was making creditable advance- 
ment in art manufactures. At the Paris Exposition 
of 1867, England stood among the foremost, and in 
some branches of manufacture distanced the most 
artistic nations. It was the schools of art, which 
were drawing schools of a high grade, that accom- 
plished this great result in the period of sixteen 
years. “ The United States still held her place at 
the foot of the column,” and, we are sorry to say it, 
remains there yet. 

For a hundred years or more, drawing has 
played an important part in the industrial education 
of the French. Their wealth, according to good 
authority, is owing principally to their drawing 
schools, which are said to be the main-stays of their 
art industry to-day. By means of this art culture 
in their schools, they have raised themselves to the 


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'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


mastery of the world in the departments of art and 
of art manufacture. Although France has been en- 
gaged in many costly wars and her national debt 
is burdensome, she surprised Germany and all the 
world besides, by paying off her late war indebted- 
ness before it was due. How was she enabled to do 
this % Her art manufactures are demanded by every 
civilized country in the world. Her industrial pro- 
ducts having more of taste and skill than of bulk, 
cost less for transportation than breadstuffs and raw 
materials ; hence she commands the markets of the 
world for just those manufactures that it is to the 
interest of any nation to produce. A late writer in 
the commercial department of the Hew York Inde- 
pendent says, “We are now paying a good many 
millions of dollars yearly to France for mere style 
in cotton goods, and calicoes may be seen lying on 
the same counters in our dry goods stores, not very 
different in material value, which differ in price full 
five hundred per cent. It is the elegance, the 
superior taste, the artistic designs of French calicoes 
which impart to them a value in ladies’ eyes which 
our own calicoes do not possess, and it should be 
the aim of our manufacturers to compete with 
them either in our own or in foreign markets.” 

It would be interesting to show how Germany, 


Teachers’ Association. 


315 


Austria, Russia and the smaller European countries 
regard this matter of industrial drawing. Suffice it 
to say that some of these stand in the front rank with 
France and England, while all are vying with each 
other for excellency in industrial art manufackires. 

This impulse in favor of educating all so as to 
give the seeing eye and the ready hand has been 
wafted over the Atlantic Ocean and has found a 
lodgment on Plymouth Rock. Massachusetts, with 
a never failing instinct as to how money is to be 
made, has passed a law, (in 1870,) requiring draw- 
ing to be taught in all her common schools, and 
establishing evening schools for giving instruction 
in drawing to all persons over fifteen years of age. 
We find these evening schools filled with persons of 
all ages from fifteen to sixty years. Even these 
older students are eager to learn, and as they 
become sensible of what they have lost, they 
bemoan the fate that prevented their learning to 
draw when younger. 

Last spring the state of New York, following the 
example of Massachusetts, passed a law making 
drawing a compulsory study. This law went into 
effect the first day of October, and the school 
authorities are doing all they can to make the 
introduction of this study universal. 


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'Xorlli-Easlern Ohio 


It requires no prophet to foresee what is to be the 
result. It seems almost useless to say, that unless 
the Western States begin to meet this competition at 
once in the schools, these Eastern States, on account 
of the superior skill of their workmen, will bring us 
under a more exacting tribute than we are at 
present. They will continue to send us their art 
manufactures, which we ought to produce at home, 
and we shall continue to delve in the earth in 
order to produce the raw material to send to them 
in exchange. We shall find it will take a great 
deal of corn, wheat, and cotton, to buy a small 
quantity of calico and other finer fabrics which 
we consider desirable. 

We feel that it is useless to say more in favor of 
the practical value of drawing. The American peo- 
ple are said to be eminently practical. Hence it 
would seem only necessary to show them that a 
want exists in order to have it supplied. The 
Exposition at Philadelphia next year will give us 
a strong push in the right direction. We shall 
come home convinced, I have no doubt, that we are 
far behind all other first-class countries in the matter 
of art education, and that if we wish ever to hold 
our own in the markets of the world, we must give 
our children the best possible advantages for 


Teachers' Association. 


317 


training their eyes and their hands. We shall be 
convinced, I hope, that no other subject of study 
is now so much needed ; that “ nothing else could 
add such rapid wealth to the country — wealth of 
tasteful production, and wealth of enjoyment of 
tasteful products.” 

It would be a pleasant and profitable task to 
contemplate some of the higher uses of drawing. A 
man trained in drawing, in the language of Addison, 
“ is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar 
are not capable of receiving. He can converse with 
a picture, and find an agreeable companion in a 
statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a 
description, and often feels a greater satisfaction 
in the prospect of fields and meadows than another 
does in the possession. It gives him, indeed, a kind 
of property in everything he sees, and makes the 
most rude, uncultivated parts of nature administer 
to his pleasures ; so that he looks upon the world, 
as it were, in another light, and discovers in it a 
multitude of charms that conceal themselves from 
the generality of mankind.” 

The desire for ornament is as natural and 
universal as that of any other of human nature. 
It is a mistake to suppose that the gratification of 
this desire is only a luxury— it is a positive want 


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that cannot be neglected without great injury to 
human character. This desire is one of the earliest 
to manifest itself. Man in a savage state, frequently 
feels the need of ornament even before he knows the 
want of clothes. This desire for ornament is absent 
in none, and it grows in the same ratio as progress 
in civilization. As man advances he is no more 
satisfied with the decoration of the rude tent or 
wigwam, but desires to contemplate the divine 
works of a Phidias and a Praxiteles. 

Sight is the noblest of the senses. Something 
more than eyes are necessary, however, that we 
may see. Right seeing comes from training. Any- 
thing that cultivates the power of correct vision, 
really enlarges the world for us, for whatever is not 
seen or perceived by us, might as well not exist, so 
far as we are concerned. 

Drawing is the avenue to many of the purest and 
noblest pleasures of life. It opens our blind eyes 
to the beauties of nature and art which surround 
us, in the greatest profusion, but of which many of 
us are entirely unconscious. It brings us into con- 
tact with nature in her most pleasing and elevating 
aspect ; and through ‘ ‘ that elder scripture, writ by 
Grod’s own hand,” as exhibited in flowers, trees, 
landscapes, babbling brooks, fountains, valleys, 


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319 


hills and mountains, we are led to “look through 
nature up to nature’s God.” 

Finally, of the youth who has been properly 
trained in drawing and art, and who learns to love 
the beautiful forms that everywhere surround him, 
we may say, in the language of another, that, 
“ God’s glory of the sunset — all of the divine offer- 
ings in the natural world — will be his while life 
lasts, and when the white veil of flesh standing 
between him and his hereafter falls away from him 
into the bosom of demanding earth, memory will 
keep her seat in the mysterious intelligence he calls 
his soul, and hold them sacred to him forever.” 


READING AS A MEANS OF DISCIPLINE, SUP- 
PLEMENTARY TO SCHOOL TRAINING. 

BY PROF. HIRAM MEAD, OBERLIN. 

No one gains his entire education in the schools. 
Some well educated men have been almost wholly 
indebted to other means of culture. This is notably 
true of the honored statesman who has so recently* 
been buried with public demonstrations of sorrow. 
No college or academy can show any record of his 


♦November 30, 1875. 


320 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


scholarship. Even the country district school had 
but little knowledge of him. Almost all that he 
had of early culture he gained by reading. After 
a hard day’ s work on the farm he used to take long 
walks to a distant neighbor’ s house where he could 
read a borrowed book or newspaper, too precious for 
him to take home. He gained access at last to a 
library of a thousand books. “He read them by 
the flickering brands on the hearth, for the most 
part while his exacting master slept.” 

Thus was gained the early discipline that lay at 
the foundation of the remarkable success of our late 
vice president, Henry Wilson. One of the lessons 
which his life teaches us is that reading may be 
quite as important a factor in education as the 
discipline of the school room. To know how and 
what to read is, therefore, just as important as a 
wisely selected course of study. 

At this point our modern modes of education 
subject young students to a test that is often fatally 
severe. The curriculum of the high school or the 
college is prescribed. No skill or judgment is 
required to follow it. It is like the track for the 
railway engine, upon which it must run. But 
when we come to a course of reading in general 
literature we are upon a trackless ocean, and the 


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321 


right path can be discerned only by a skilled 
pilot. 

The young reader is, at the outset, confounded 
by the illimitable range of book-learning in which 
his explorations must be made. He imagines him- 
self standing in the British Museum, or the Library 
of Paris, surrounded by more than a million of 
bound volumes, and then reflecting that at the rate 
• of one volume per week twenty thousand years 
would be required for the perusal of them all, and 
that even the works contained in one of our large 
American libraries could not at the same rapid rate, 
be read in less than three thousand years, he is 
baffled as he would be by an attempt to conceive of 
infinite space or endless time. What shall be done 
when a thousand courses are presented while only 
one can be taken % 

This perplexity and liability to mistake are in- 
creased by the glitter and attractiveness of recent 
productions. If the advertisements of publishers, 
or even the commendations of learned and critical 
book reviewers may be trusted, the publications 
that are just now issuing from the press should all 
be read ; and then no time is left for the old stand- 
ard works. 

This temptation to read so much that is new, 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


allures many a reader away from the old, and, when 
it is too late, he finds, to his infinite sorrow, that he 
has been chasing an ignis fatuus and has missed 
the beaten highway of true learning. 

Liability to error in this matter cannot be pre- 
vented, but it may be diminished. It is not the 
purpose of this paper to tell what and how many 
books the student should attempt to read for the 
purpose of supplementing his school culture, but 
rather to offer some suggestions which will help 
him in the selection as well as in the use of books. 

I. There is need of special care, first, as to the 
quality of our reading. 

The mind, like the body, grows by what it feeds 
upon ; and the kind of that growth, the quality and 
strength of the mental fiber, will be determined 
chiefly by the quality of that which enters into it. 
Not more really is the physical frame built up of 
the material which the lungs and the digestive 
organs have assimilated, than is the mental struc- 
ture made up of that which one has seen, heard, 
attended to, and meditated upon. If the mental 
capacity were a mere receptacle of ideas and facts it 
might be filled and emptied again and still remain 
the same, as do the brick walls of a warehouse 
after the reception and discharge of successive 


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323 


cargoes. But the mind is not mere capacity . Ety- 
mologically considered this term is altogether 
inappropriate. The mind does not hold and shape 
ideas so much as it is held and shaped by ideas! 
No organic living thing is so susceptible to mould- 
ing influences. By means of climate, nutriment and 
culture, plants and animals may be marvelously 
differentiated. After several generations, pigeons 
may thus be transformed into doves, and possibly, 
wolves into dogs. But in a single lifetime an 
ignorant peasant may be developed into a philoso- 
pher, and a brutal savage may become a saint. 

And the transformation is mainly the natural 
result of taking into the mind the facts and ideas of 
oral and written speech. These may be said to 
enter into the composition of the mind, as the phos- 
phorus of our food enters into the very substance of 
the brain. Chemists can analyze the brain and tell 
the relative quantity of its several parts. If a simi- 
lar analysis of the mental structure were possible 
the result — in some cases — might (in scientific 
phrase) be thus announced: 

Newspaper stories and novels — 750 parts. 

Travels and humorous descriptions (like those of 
Mark Twain) — 100 parts. 

Scientific books and lectures — 50 parts. 


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Skeptical assaults on the Christian religion — 75 
parts. 

English classics — 20 parts. 

Sermons and religious books — 5 parts. 

Bible — a trace. 

Youthful minds of a certain type are very likely to 
become, for a period, completely saturated with the 
productions of a single class of fascinating writers, 
or, it may be, of some one author of commanding 
genius. There was a time when, as Macaulay tells 
us, the sentiments of Lord Byron entered into and 
actually constituted the intellectual and moral life 
of multitudes of youth. “They learned his poems 
by heart, and did their best to write like him. . . 

The number of hopeful undergraduates and medical 
students who became things of dark imaginings, 
on whom the freshness of the heart ceased to fall 
like dew, whose passions had consumed themselves 
to dust, and to whom the relief of tears was denied, 
passes all calculation. This was not the worst. 
There was created in the minds of many of these 
enthusiasts a pernicious and absurd association 
between intellectual power and moral depravity. 
From the poetry of Lord Byron they drew a system 
of ethics compounded of misanthropy and volup- 
tuousness ; a system on which the two great 


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commandments were, to liate your neighbor and 
love your neighbor’s wife.” 

Now, the fact to be noted here is that young 
persons who have thus eagerly and lovingly 
absorbed the sentiments of any great mind are, 
thereby, transformed. They are no more what they 
were, and they never can be again. The enthusiastic 
lover of Byron is henceforth Byronized ; the admirer 
of Carlyle soon becomes essentially Carlylean, and 
the worshiper of Emerson is, in his measure, 
rendered Emersonian. And this is the case not 
with weak minds only. The best and strongest, 
those in which individuality is predominant, have 
been in the same way transfused by, and assimilated 
to, other minds. Frederick W. Robertson, who was 
remarkable for nothing so much as his indepen- 
dence and originality, confessed that the writings 
of certain great men had “ passed like the iron 
atoms of the blood into his mental constitution.” 

This being so, it is very plain at the outset, 
that it is in the highest degree desirable that one 
should read only the very best authors — those that 
stand in the very first rank by the common consent 
of scholarly men. 

It is the mistaken notion of our day that young 
minds specially should be nourished by those weak 


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dilutions of thought that come in the shape of a 
popular juvenile literature — much of it the product 
of untrained and feeble minds. At that very period 
when, if ever, the mind should be wakened into 
profound thoughtfulness by contact with those who 
have been thrilled by the deep meaning of human 
existence, our young people are given over to the 
tuition of weak, sentimental story-tellers. Now, it 
may be necessary, in the present state of things, to 
place our children in the primary schools under 
the care of young, inexperienced teachers ; but who 
can doubt that it would be better for them to be 
trained by such men as Dr. Arnold and Agassiz, or 
by such women as Mary Lyon. This is imprac- 
ticable, but it is not also impracticable to subject 
these same children to the influence of the best 
minds embodied in books — “ books that are not 
absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of 
life in them to be as active as that soul was whose 
progeny they are.” A good book written by the 
wisest man costs no more — it costs less — than the 
last illustrated blue-and-gold bound novel of Miss 
Anonymous, just out of her “ teens,” whose prolific 
pen is so busy in furnishing new manuscript for 
some enterprising publisher of Sunday School 
books. What hope can there be of the healthy 


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intellectual development of those who in early youth 
are surfeited by literary sugar candies ? No really 
great men have ever been nourished by such food. 

There is a lesson to be learned from the records 
which are left us of the early surroundings and the 
intellectual employments of those who afterwards 
became renowned. The kind of training which 
Lord Bacon had in his boyhood is shown by the 
fact that at eleven years of age he wrote a philo- 
sophical essay on the imagination. The poetic 
genius of Milton was fostered while yet very young 
by his continuous reading of Spenser. In one of 
the biographical sketches of President Edwards’ 
life, attention is called to “the manifest disparity 
between his early surroundings and his future 
greatness;” but when the writer goes on to say 
that at the age of seven he was studying Latin and 
reciting to his father, a man of scholarly attainments, 
and that, in the intervals between his study hours, 
he used to pass much of his time in the fields and 
forests of his country home, watching with keen, 
penetrating eye the goings-on of nature ; and that 
when twelve years old he embodied some of his 
original observations in one of the most instructive 
and interesting papers ever written in the depart- 
ment of natural history ; that when but fourteen 


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years of age his spirit was kindled by his study of 
“ Locke on the Understanding,” which he read over 
and over again with pen in hand, stopping often 
to give expression to his own conception of 
the meaning of such terms as “space,” “being,” 
“consciousness,” “sensation,” “perception,” “ cer_ 
tainty ; ” meantime enjoying, as he himself testifies, 
“a far higher pleasure in the perusal of its pages, 
than the most greedy miser feels when gathering 
up handfuls of silver and gold from some newly 
discovered mine” — when we have conned this 
record the disparity between Edwards’ early 
surroundings and his subsequent greatness does 
not seem so striking. It is after all only such a 
disparity as that which exists between the acorn 
that is planted in stony, but congenial soil, and 
the future oak. 

Robert Hall, when only nine years old, read and 
comprehended Edwards’ argumentative treatises ; 
and the celebrated Moses Stuart, when but twelve 
years of age, was intensely interested in the same 
author’s profound treatise on the “Freedom of the 
Will.” Edmund Burke, one of the noblest intel- 
lects the world has ever seen, read in early boyhood 
the best authors extant in history and philosophy 
and general literature. The essays of Lord Bacon 


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lie read again and again, with ever increasing 
admiration. 

Gibbon’s early and invincible love of reading was 
stimulated and guided by an excellent woman, not 
his own mother, but, as he calls her, “ the mother of 
his mind,” whose natural good sense was improved 
by the perusal of the best works in the English lan- 
guage ; under whose guidance the future historian 
became familiar, in earliest boyhood, with Pope’s 
Homer and Dry den’s Virgil, as well as the fas- 
cinating Entertainments of the Arabian Nights. 
William Pitt, the younger, was trained in the clas- 
sics so early that when fourteen years of age he 
could, without previous study, translate the Greek 
of Thucydides fluently into accurate English. And 
whatever we may say of the inhumanity and dis- 
tortion of John Stuart Mill’s paternal training, we 
must allow that the early contact of his mind with 
the chief thinkers of the world, was the principal 
source of his great, though sadly perverted, intel- 
lectual powers. 

It is quite probable that every strong thinker has 
thus been indebted, more than we know, to his 
early contact with the best authors. And it is 
equally probable that thousands upon thousands 
who, by the same sort of early culture might have 


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been made great, have been reduced to effeminacy 
by the weakness of the literature upon which their 
childhood has been fed. 

II. There is need of equal care as regards the 
amount of our reading. It was the advice of 
Luther, as good as it is quaint, that “those who 
study in what art soever should betake themselves 
to the reading of some sure and certain sorts of 
books oftentimes, over and over again ; for to read 
many sorts of books produceth more and rather 
confusion, than to learn thereout anything certainly 
or perfectly, like as those that dwell everywhere 
and remain certainly in no place; such do well 
nowhere, nor are anywhere at home.” This is 
good advice for anyone, but specially for the young 
reader. Fortunate is the youth who, having an 
ardent passion for books, is prevented, in whatever 
way, from devouring the contents of circulating 
libraries, and the worse trash that comes in the form 
of a sensational periodical literature. Who will say 
that Daniel Webster had not cause for everlasting 
gratitude rather than regret, in that books were a 
great rarity in his father’ s humble home % “To read 
them once or twice,” he says, “was nothing; I 
thought they were to be got by heart.” For want 
of other poetry, for which he had an early fondness, 


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lie perused Watts’ Psalms and Hymns over and 
over, until, at the age of ten or twelve years, he 
“had most of them at his tongue’s end.” Let us 
shed no sympathetic tears over this story, nor over 
the equally sad privations of Abraham Lincoln’s 
boyhood. With the exception of two or three biog- 
raphies, one of them Deems’ Life of Washington, 
young Lincoln had access only to iEsop’ s Fables, 
Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Shakspeare and the 
Bible. But these he read and re-read, over and 
over again. We can easily believe that it was not 
so much in spite of, as because of their early liter- 
ary poverty, that these men became afterward so 
wealthy in intellectual resources. Blessed are such 
poor! 

The scene is a familiar one in these days of 
modern privilege, when some venerable man “who 
has come down to us from a former generation,” 
takes his little grandson on his knee, and then, 
among other tales with which he tries to awaken 
the little fellow’ s grateful appreciation of the suffer- 
ings and sacrifices that were necessary to secure for 
us this goodly inheritance, tells of the scarcity of 
books in the* olden times, when almost the only 
juvenile literature was the New England Primer 
and Pilgrim’s Progress, when picture books and 


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children’ s newspapers and magazines, with all their 
wealth of stories and rebuses and conundrums were 
not known, and boys and girls that wanted to read 
had to content themselves with dog-eared copies of 
Josephus’ Antiquities or Edwards’ History of Re- 
demption, with, perhaps, a volume or two of Tillot- 
son or Baxter, to which, in the department of poetry, 
there may be added Shakspeare and Milton, Young’ s 
Night Thoughts and Pope’s Essay on Man. 

Venerable friend ! spare our feelings. When we 
think of the debilitating sentimental stuff in the 
shape of literature which most boys and girls in 
these days have put into their hands — to say 
nothing of the obscene literature which is clan- 
destinely but widely circulated — we are as little 
disposed to weep over the literary destitutions of 
our fathers as over the condition of Adam and Eve 
while forbidden to eat of the fruit of the knowledge 
of good and evil. Plainly the printing press, with 
all its modern improvements is not an unmixed 
blessing. It is putting it very mildly to say as one 
does that the “ facilities of production have multi- 
plied the mass of books out of all proportion to the 
needs of literature.” We shall state the case more 
truthfully if we say that we are overwhelmed 
with books and newspapers. Instead of fertilizing 


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333 


showers there has come a deluge. And in order to 
live in these waters we should be like whales “that 
move rapidly about with mouths wide open in order 
to catch and strain out a sufficient amount of infus- 
oria to sustain them.” 

And now how to escape from the devastating 
ruin to all healthy intellectual growth which such a 
deluge threatens to bring— this is the great problem. 
We cannot stop these outpourings of the press. 
They are likely to be increased rather than dimin- 
ished. But we can and must learn how to 
neutralize their damaging tendency. Carlyle no 
doubt hits a real evil when he says that 4 4 the linest 
nations of the world, the English and the Ameri- 
cans, are going all away into wind and into tongue, 

. . . and that there is very great necessity indeed 

of getting a little more silent than we are.” But 
after all there is not so much danger of an excess of 
talking as of reading. It is more thinking that is 
needed — a deeper penetration into the hidden 
meaning of human life and destiny. There 
should be more of deliberate soundings into the 
silent depths of true learning, and less of this rapid 
sailing over the surface. 

President Dwight in his later years congratulated 
himself on having had weak eyes during so much 


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of his life, for while thus prevented from reading 
he was compelled to think. Other distinguished 
scholars have been blessed in the same way. 
Modern newspapers and other kinds of cheap dia- 
mond-type literature may yet have the credit of 
accomplishing one good result in that they are so 
effective in putting out the eyes, for if we cannot 
learn to read with some degree of judicious dis- 
crimination it is quite as well not to read at all — for, 

III. We should not only read the best books 
and few of them, but we should read them well. 
The most important of all lessons to be learned by 
the young student is how to read. 

1. There is a very wide distinction between a real 
perusing , a looking into and through a book, and 
a rapid skimming over the surface and catching up 
a thought here and there. To read in such a way 
as to derive true intellectual improvement from it is 
to immerse one’ s self in the thoughts of the author, 
to come into intelligent and sympathetic communion 
with his mind, to think his thoughts after him and 
weigh them in the balance of the reader’s own 
judgment, to take possession of them and lay them 
away, not, however, as are packages of raw material 
which may be carefully stowed away and labeled 
without being opened, but rather like manufactured 


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335 


goods, wrought by one’ s own thinking into new and 
original forms ; not as bars of metal that are piled 
up in the very shape of the mould from which they 
came, but refined and re-stamped by the minting 
process of one’s own hard thinking. 

I refer now, of course, not to newspapers, not to 
statistical or scientific works, such as geographies or 
natural histories, the design of which is simply to 
give us facts, but rather to that class of works, 
more properly termed literature , which address the 
imagination and the moral feelings, the judgment 
and the will. These are poems, like those of Homer 
and Milton, Shakspeare and W ordsworth ; essays 
like those of Plutarch, Lord Bacon, Pascal, Cole- 
ridge, De Quincey and Emerson ; sermons like 
those of South and Jeremy Taylor, Robertson and 
Bushnell, oratory like that of Demosthenes, Burke 
and Webster. Such productions are not read till 
their full meaning is comprehended and felt. They 
are not read till they become a part of ourselves. 

And here, let me stop long enough to say that 
even our school and college text-books are in too 
many cases not really read or studied in this sense, 
so much as they are crammed. There are students 
— multitudes of them — in our high schools and 
colleges who have gained the astonishing ability to 


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hold in an undigested form, by the bare grip of 
memory, a great amount of text book knowledge 
just for a few hours, possibly two or three days, 
about as long as a camel can carry his supply of 
water in the desert, or as long as the whale could 
hold Jonah, and then of giving it out at a recitation 
or examination, and at the same time relieving 
themselves so completely of the burden that they 
can never again recollect what it was they learned 
so well and recited so fluently. The mind thus 
treated after a while acquires the qualities of the 
sponge, which absorbs water, holds it for a time 
and then gives it out, without any perceptible 
change in the sponge, though there is considerable 
roiling of the water. From such study there is no 
resulting growth of the mind, because there is no 
digestion and assimilation of the contents of the 
books studied. 

The evil of this is widely recognized and felt; 
and yet our courses of study are every year 
crowded with additional studies; fluent, but unin- 
telligent recitations are more and more encouraged; 
the memory is tasked at the expense of the reflec- 
tive powers, until it has become a serious question 
whether our modern methods of culture in our 
graded schools and universities, with their fixed 


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337 


courses that are like the bed of Procrustes, to 
which, rather than by which, each student of what- 
ever capacity must be accommodated, with their 
precise routine of exercises that neither encourage 
nor permit independent thought — whether this is 
better than the old fashioned district school, 
academy and college, as they were in New England 
from fifty to a hundred years ago. But — not to go 
into a discussion of the subject — we may safely 
venture the suggestion that if, instead of extending 
these courses of study, they were to be reduced by 
one-half, so as to give an opportunity to drill the 
student until he gains a thorough mastery of the 
ideas of his text-books ; if the best specimens of 
English literature were furnished in the read in 
books, and children were made to understand the 
meaning and feel the force of what they read ; if 
time enough were given to each branch of learning 
to enable the pupil to get possession of it ; — if edu- 
cation should become more like this we should be 
likely to make vigorous, independent thinkers of 
those who are now likely to become mere chattering 
parrots. 

2. Beading that disciplines and strengthens the 
mind is to be distinguished from mere recreative 
reading. The larger proportion of those who regard 


22 


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themselves as cultured read always for pleasure 
rather than for profit. But scholars should be 
careful not to deceive themselves into the notion 
that they are necessarily receiving the culture of 
books because they are occupied with the printed 
page. They should know the difference between 
work and play, mental exertion and mental recrea- 
tion, else they will be sure to fall into the worst 
kind of mental dissipation. Reading constantly for 
the mere pleasure of it, as Robertson says in one of 
his letters, “weakens the mind more than doing 
nothing, for it becomes a necessity at last, like 
smoking, and is an excuse for the mind to lie 
dormant whilst thought is poured in and runs 
through, a clear stream over unproductive gravel, 
on which not even mosses grow. It is the idlest of 
idlenesses, and leaves more of impotency than any 
other.” 

3. Disciplinary reading is still further to be 
distinguished from the mere gathering up of facts. 
Even while engaged in severe study one may consult 
books without really reading them. One of the 
most learned of European physiologists told an 
American scholar that he had never read a book in 
his life except the Bible. He meant that he had 
had time only to consult the thousands of volumes 


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330 


that lay around him, as one consults a dictionary. 
Now in reading, the object is not to gain knowledge 
simply, but wisdom. Let Cowper tell us the 
difference between the two : 

Knowledge dwells 

In heads replete with thoughts of other men, 

Wisdom in minds attentive to their own ; 

Knowledge, a rude, unprofitable mass, 

The mere materials with which wisdom builds 
Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place, 

Does but encumber what it seems to enrich. 

Information is certainly desirable, but we may 
overestimate its worth. After all, those who have 
done the most valuable thinking and have, thereby, 
exerted the greatest influence on other minds, have 
not been men of facts, but of ideas. Facts are of 
themselves worth nothing only as matters of mo- 
mentary observation and interest. The arrival of 
a comet, the shock of an earthquake, the eruption 
of a volcano, the wreck of a vessel, the ascent of a 
balloon, the discovery of a meteoric rock or of a 
Cardiff giant — of what use are these, unless some 
principle of human nature or some physical law is 
suggested by them. To know a thing simply as an 
occurrence is as useless as to gather up chips at a 
wood-pile and stow them away in a cabinet of 


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natural history. A phenomenon is a thing of 
insignificant importance in itself. It comes and 
it is gone and will never again return. But the 
cause that underlies it and out of which it comes, is 
a permanent power, and in connection with other 
causes is always producing like results. Philo- 
sophical insight makes us prophets. We see that 
the thing that is, is that which also shall be. It is 
one thing to know what has transpired in past ages, 
but quite another thing to be a student of history ; 
one thing to be acquainted with the achievements of 
men, another thing to know men. This penetrative 
faculty which enables us to discern the forces that 
underlie phenomena, out of which these phenomena 
come, which sees the causes of events as vividly as 
it sees the events themselves, which, therefore, 
knows a 'priori what must be and will be, instead 
of waiting in uncertainty for things to come to 
pass — this power to comprehend the motive forces 
in human history, is what we most need if we would 
touch successfully the springs by which minds are 
moved, or would know how to adjust the lever that 
is to lift mankind. 

4. The reading that invigorates the mind must be 
determined by a high moral purpose. 

In certain literary circles the shallow notion 


Teachers’ Association. 


341 


prevails that the end of culture is simply literary 
attainment; and it is imagined that nothing but the 
necessity of gaining a livelihood by some lucrative 
employment should keep any scholar from the 
pursuit of literature for its own sake. To be 
cultured, refined, critical ; to know how to talk 
about books and works of art ; in short, to be a 
mere dilettante is supposed to be the principal 
thing. But this is a grave mistake. Literary 
culture should never be desired for its own sake. 
“ Literary pursuits,” says the wise Dr. Arnold, 
“ ought never to be a profession, but always rather 
an appendage to some profession which should keep 
a man alive by interesting him in questions of real 
life, and of his own time. . . . Literary attainments 
should be used in subordination to some Christian 
end, or else they become as fatal as absolute idle- 
ness.” We can easily see that this ought to be so. 
It accords with the Scripture : “He that loseth his 
life shall find it.” 

But we have ample proof of it in all the living 
literatures of the world. Without stopping to 
consider the significant fact that mere critics have 
never been authors, it is enough to observe that the 
great orators and poets and philosophers, whose 
productions the world “will not willingly let die,” 


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were those who had an end in view above them- 
selves. Demosthenes did not deliver his famous 
orations for the sake of gaining an orator’s fame, 
but that he might persuade the Athenians to march 
against Philip. Chatham and Burke did not mean 
to be eloquent, for eloquence’ sake, when they 
argued so grandly in the British Parliament against 
the efforts of the Crown to crush American liberty. 
Patrick Henry did not look in the mirror to see 
how well he was performing when he made that 
celebrated speech at the opening of the first con- 
gress, one hundred years ago. Lincoln had no 
thought of producing one of the best specimens of 
English literature, when he stood above the graves 
of Gettysburg and from a full soul pronounced his 
eulogy on the patriot dead, for whom and with 
whom his great sympathetic heart had bled. So 
far as we know, Shakspeare never thought of fame 
while writing his plays ; and John Bunyan cer- 
tainly could not have expected that after he had 
died, such a critic as Macaulay would coolly 
pronounce the highest encomium upon him as 
a literary genius. Our §most honored American 
authoress — more popular once than now, because 
she used to write better than now — while compos- 
ing, under the impulse of philanthropic feeling ? 


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343 


the story that made her immediately illustrious on 
two continents, never imagined, at the time, that 
she was producing a great literary work. All 
best things that have been said in the best way 
have been melted and moulded in the heat of some 
intense and fervent desire to benefit mankind. 

And this is the chief reason why the Bible, in a 
mere literary point of view, is so far superior to all 
that has ever been written. It is the purity and 
intensity of its high and holy aim that makes it, as 
a body of literature, the “ Boole of books” 

It is a singular fact that while many believers 
in its inspiration are ready to banish it from our 
schools, Matthew Arnold, the skeptic and literary 
critic, wishes to retain it, and make it, what it is so 
well fitted to be, a means of the highest mental 
culture. In his introduction to a text-book he has 
prepared for use in common schools, consisting of a 
portion of the prophecy of Isaiah, with annotations 
of his own, he says that “if poetry, philosophy and 
eloquence, if what we call letters are a power, and 
a beneficent, wonder-working power in education, 
through the Bible only have the people much 
chance of getting at poetry, philosophy and elo- 
quence. Chords of power are touched by this 
instruction which no other part of the instruction 


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of a common school reaches.” Goethe’s free think- 
ing friends reproached him for wasting his time over 
the Bible; but his answer was: “I am convinced 
that the Bible becomes even more beautiful the 
more one understands it.” But its beauty and 
power are due to the simplicity, directness and 
earnestness of its intent, viz : to show the way in 
which weak, sinful mortals may be regenerated and 
saved. It is the religion of the Bible that makes it 
thus vital, and it is its religion also that renders it, 
in the opinion of an increasing number, unfit for use 
in our schools! The consistency of these proposi- 
tions I leave it to others to explain. 

In offering these common-place suggestions I 
have hoped to make the impression that a sound 
literary culture, a profitable acquaintance with the 
best thinkers, is for most of us altogether practi- 
cable. I have desired to relieve the young reader, 
who is so apt to be appalled by the amount of liter- 
ature which seems to demand perusal, by showing 
that the attempt to read everything is as foolish 
as it is impossible ; that, instead of its being a sign 
of literary attainment to have read — besides the 
leading newspapers, monthlies and quarterlies — 
all the latest novels from Charles Reade’s down 
to Mrs. Southworth’s, together with the latest 


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345 


productions of historians, travelers and scientists, it 
is rather a sign of inanity to profess to have done 
all this, and altogether creditable to be, in the esti- 
mation of our modern literary scavengers, quite 
illiterate. We can well afford to be ignorant of that 
which is worthless. For of all the books and pam- 
phlets that are issuing from the press this present 
year, so many of which we are tempted to read, 
not one in a thousand will be inquired after, or 
thought about, even three years hence. They are 
but bubbles upon the stream, ready to vanish 
away. 

The view we have thus taken has also brought 
into less than boundless compass the really valuable 
literatures of the world. The world’s great thinkers 
are few, and yet, few as they are, they are the 
original sources of the best thought. Other minds 
revolve about them and derive knowledge from 
them, as in the solar system the planets revolve 
about, and reflect the light of, the sun. Reflected, 
even refracted, light is 'better than none, but the 
direct rays are the best. Inasmuch as the vast 
majority of authors are mere transcribers of other 
men’s ideas, saying that which has been said before 
with far more clearness, beauty and force, why not 
go directly to the originals ? Why waste time in 


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gathering up and sifting out the minute and scat- 
tered particles of gold dust that lie buried in the 
measureless debris of modern literature, when the 
mines of solid ore, from which all this dust has 
been washed are so easily accessible and so much 
more productive? These original sources of thought 
may be found in almost any well selected library. 
They may one by one be gathered into our own pri- 
vate libraries. Ruskin suggests that “if we read 
Homer, Plato, JEschylus, Herodotus, Dante, Shak- 
speare and £ Spenser as much as we ought, we shall 
not require much enlargement of shelves to right 
and left for perpetual study.” Emerson, who 
delves in so many mines, tells us, that he seldom 
visits the library of Harvard College, with its two 
hundred thousand volumes, without renewing the 
conviction that the best of it all is within the four 
walls of his study at home. 

Certainly, enough of the best is within the reach 
of us all. No student who is seeking the right 
kind of culture needs, while in the high school or 
college course, to be within reach of a hundred 
thousand volumes. It may be all the better if he 
can lay his hand upon only a few hundred. 

The age in which we live wants, more than any- 
thing else, strong men , men of deep convictions, 


Teachers’ Association. 


347 


men who have dug down till they have struck the 
hard-pan of philosophical and religious tr„uth, and 
are sure of the foundation on which they stand. 
But such men can never be developed by what is 
sometimes called an “enlarged culture,” the result 
of wide miscellaneous reading, but rather by a 
penetrative study of a few books. There is deep 
meaning in the old adage, “Beware of the man of 
one book ;” for the man who knows some one thing 
well, if it be only the right thing , is stronger than 
a legion of those who know many things but super- 
ficially. One such “can chase a thousand, and two 
put ten thousand to flight.” 

It may be true, as the author of the “Enigmas of 
Life” suggests, that there are never hereafter to be 
men of such original greatness as Homer, and Plato, 
and Angelo, and Shakspeare, and Cromwell, and 
Knox, and others among the geniuses of the times 
gone by, but if there are to be those who shall in 
anywise resemble them, they will come up, not from 
the ranks of the widely and superficially cultured, 
but like our own Patrick Henry, and Webster and 
Lincoln, from humble homes, where there are but 
few good books, and those well read. 


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INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

BY H. M. PARKER, ELYRIA. 

THIRD PRESIDENT. 

As this is Centennial year it seems to be quite 
proper to take a retrospective and a prospective 
view of the works of the North Eastern Ohio Teach- 
ers’ Association. Since we are accustomed to fore- 
cast the future by the past, let us turn our attention 
for a few moments to what has been accomplished 
by this Association, in order that we may, if possi- 
ble, discern what should be done in the early future. 

The North-Eastern Ohio Teachers’ Association 
has had an existence of six years. During that 
time, with one exception, five meetings each year, 
at each of which have been presented for discus- 
sion three or four subjects bearing more or less 
directly upon education. Able papers have been 
read by many of the leading teachers in both the 
public and private schools of Northern Ohio, and 
by distinguished gentlemen of other professions. 
These papers have been freely discussed by the 
members of the Association and others who have 
been present at the meetings. Such meetings have 
been useful in various ways. 


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First. They have furnished those attending them 
an opportunity to become well acquainted with each 
other, thus facilitating exchange of views and rela- 
tion of experiences both during the meetings and in 
a social way before and after the meetings. 

Second. Greater uniformity in grading has been 
secured. The Association appointed cormnittees to 
report a course of study for graded schools. This 
report was printed and distributed through North- 
ern Ohio. Many adopted the report as it was, and 
others adopted it in a modified form. The result 
has been even better than was anticipated. Prior 
to this, pupils moving from one town to another 
found it difficult to enter classes of the grade they 
left, owing to the difference in the course of study. 
But now this does not exist to any great extent. 
Thus many pupils are greatly benefited, and teach- 
ers are spared anxiety and extra work. Uniformity 
in grading throughout the state would be of still 
greater value. 

Third. The standard of scholarship has been 
advanced by means of comparison of results at- 
tained in different places. This is a natural 
outgrowth of the friendly feelings secured by the 
frequent meeting of superintendents and teachers. 
Being on friendly terms, superintendents have 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


visited each other’s schools, and have been inspired 
to greater effort in certain lines of work by what 
they have seen in their neighbors’ schools. 

Fourth. Methods of instruction have been im- 
proved. This has been especially true of small 
places. Inexperienced teachers have attended the 
Association and made the acquaintance of those 
who have been longer in the work and have accepted 
the invitations of such to visit their schools. Those 
visits have been prolific of great good. The visitors 
have returned to their own schools to introduce 
better methods of teaching and thus to exert a 
much more powerful influence upon their pupils. 

The same object has been secured by occasional 
class exercises given before the Association by suc- 
cessful teachers. May we not hope the executive 
committee will renew this means of improvement at 
an early day ? 

For other advantages that have been the out- 
growth of these meetings I refer you to your own 
experience and to the forthcoming history of the 
Association. 

A few thoughts relative to the future work of 
this Association. 

The subject of higher education is at the present 
one of great importance. The signs of the times 


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351 


indicate that the nation is to need educated men 
and women to fight the battles of free thought 
against error and bigotry. The public school 
should take no insignificant part in this work. 
Itself a child of the republic, it should endeavor 
to make intelligent citizens of all its members. The 
high school course should be made thorough, and 
should be made to reach greater numbers. The 
members of these schools should be led to pursue 
more extended courses of study in our colleges. If 
possible, the high school and college should be 
brought together. In many of our smaller places, 
boards of education are not willing to incur the 
expense of teaching Greek in the high school. In 
this they represent the prevailing sentiment of the 
community. They tolerate Latin, but would be 
quite willing to drop that also. 

In these high schools are many boys and girls 
who would go away to college after leaving the high 
school, if they could enter the freshman class. If 
arrangements by which this could be accomplished 
could be made in Ohio, I believe the number from 
the union school districts receiving a higher educa- 
tion would be more than doubled. This question 
has been discussed, and I trust we shall not relax 
our efforts until we shall see it settled in accordance 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


with the interests of all concerned. I believe both 
college and public school men want to see it thus 
adjusted. 

Permit me to call your attention to a class of 
pupils found in all the grades below the high 
school, who, in natural ability, are in advance of 
the majority of the grade to which they belong. 
These pupils can do their work well in about two- 
thirds of the time assigned, and can therefore have 
the other third of the time for play or idleness, thus 
acquiring very bad habits of study. I know we are 
apt to quiet ourselves with the thought that we do 
allow pupils to go from a lower to a higher grade 
whenever they show that they are prepared for the 
transfer. But do we encourage them sufficiently ? 
Do we insist upon their fitting themselves for the 
higher work, and do we then place them where 
they can make trial of their ability to accomplish 
it? Unless we do this, our pupils are much longer 
in reaching the high school than they need be. 
How can this be avoided in our present system of 
annual promotions? 

Pupils of average ability who have good health 
are well provided for in our schools. But when 
from necessity, as absence from town, or sick- 
ness, they are out of school from one to three 


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months, what shall be done with them on their 
return ? Shall they be put back a whole year ? 
Doubtless each has a plan he pursues in refer- 
ence to such cases, but might it not be profitable 
to compare views on the subject, and thus be led 
into the best way ? 

Then there are those in nearly every class who 
are a little below the average in ability. They are a 
dead weight to the class. They cause the better 
scholars to fret because they are so slow, and to lose 
many moments during the day. As these are not 
capable of doing the required work thoroughly in 
the required time, the teacher is compelled to pass 
along over the work before they have mastered it. 
Doubtless this is a very poor plan for the pupils. 
What provision can be made for such, that they 
may be enabled to do well what they undertake to 
do, and that they may not be instrumental in keep- 
ing back those who are capable of advancing more 
rapidly ? Shall they be relieved from a part of the 
work of the grade ? If so, shall they study with 
the class, or shall they be put in schools by 
themselves with a small number to each teacher, so 
that each may receive a greater amount of personal 
attention 1 

Cannot something more be done for such as leave 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


school at a very early age and for those who never 
go to school at all ? In the larger places there are 
many such — in every place some. Night schools 
have been established in the cities. These reach 
some, but I judge only a small number of those 
needing the instruction. Could an unclassified 
school be made useful in accomplishing a portion of 
this work ? What shall be its work if established ? 
What branches of study shall be taught in it? 
Shall those who wish to go into higher grades be 
allowed to prepare themselves here for promotion ? 
Shall those who have fallen behind their grades from 
necessary absence be allowed to enter this school to 
endeavor to recover their former positions ? Might 
not such schools be maintained to advantage a 
portion of each year in the towns and small cities ? 
These and many kindred topics might be profitably 
discussed by this Association. 

A question of much importance to many of the 
superintendents here is, how can we of the smaller 
places secure experienced teachers ? It is certainly 
very important that we have such teachers in our 
lower grades. Yet it is customary with boards 
to place inexperienced teachers in such positions. 
Cannot this Association suggest a practical plan 
for securing the desired result ? Cannot our high 


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355 


school graduates receive some training which shall 
lit them to do the work? May not this question 
occupy our attention at some future day ? 

Again, may there not be a question as to whether 
the subjects to which the years of childhood and 
youth are given in our schools, are the best for the 
accomplishment of the object in view ? Perhaps it 
will be well to inquire what we mean by education, 
as it seems of prime importance that we have a clear 
conception of the result we desire to produce. How 
is it to improve the condition of the possessor? 
Those who advocated the education of the masses 
at the time of the Reformation did so that they 
might be able to read the Bible, and thus learn 
their relation to God and to man, and be fitted for 
usefulness and happiness ; they did not think of 
developing the mind farther than that. 

In this country to-day children are urged to get 
an education, that their chances of success in life 
may be greater — that they may occupy higher posi- 
tions in the labor field and may make more money. 
It used to be a common thing for teachers to tell 
their boys that they should improve their time well, 
for thus each might become president of the United 
States. We may all strive for the best places, but 
we cannot all occupy them ; hence a system where 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


all are pushing eagerly for those places which are 
considered most desirable by the multitude, is 
likely to do much harm in a series of years. 

But let us look a moment at what we require of 
our pupils. Ancient and modern languages, his- 
tory —ancient, medieval and modern, a full course in 
mathematics, something of all the sciences, litera- 
ture of all the races of men as well as their history. 
In the lower grades pupils are expected to study 
reading, spelling and defining, writing, drawing, 
music, composition, map drawing, geography, 
arithmetic, grammar, history, primers in physics, 
botany, physiology, science of government, geo- 
logy, astronomy, and chemistry — to be subjected to 
written examinations in these branches of study 
once in four or six weeks. They know that the 
examinations occur at regular intervals of time, and 
that they will be demoted if they do not reach 
the standard. Does teaching under such circum- 
stances sometimes become cramming? Or is all 
this matter properly digested and assimilated ? It 
is true, a quick child will commit to memory a 
wonderful amount of the material contained in 
these primers ; but what has he gained by learning 
these statements, most of which must remain only 
words to him? What part are they to play in 


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357 


earning food and clothing for him ? He will leave 
school with the knowledge that there are a great 
many desirable positions in life, but without the 
means of securing any of them. He earnestly 
desires to succeed in life, but he does not wish to 
do so by the long and circuitous route of labor. 
He may secure his ends by a shorter route ; if so, 
what he gains is lost by some other person. Such 
exchanges do not conduce to the moral growth of 
the nation. 

The children who never enter our schools have 
some rights. They have the right to be put in the 
way of earning their living. We have no right to 
condemn them to a life of crime and want. While 
we would teach them to read and to write, might not 
some industrial instruction be combined with this ? 
Our reform schools undertake to do this. If it were 
done by our public schools, would our reform 
schools have as many inmates? Might not our 
boards make arrangements by which pupils could 
be in school part of the day and the other part be 
engaged in some industrial calling % They should 
then be taught facts and principles which they 
could apply and use. Would they not thus be 
able to choose a calling in life earlier and be much 
more likely to rise to distinction through successful 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


effort in that calling. Let every boy be taught 
some trade by which he can become independent. 

These pupils should also be taught self-govern- 
ment and the principles underlying the United 
States government. Much attention should be paid 
to the English language, that they may have the 
means of becoming intelligent citizens ; then if what 
they do is done for the sake of doing it well, success 
is sure to follow. 

Are we as educators responsible in a measure for 
the alarming amount of ignorance in the land and 
for the want of success of many who are in our 
schools and more who are not \ Have we used our 
full influence to show to the people the great danger 
of ignorance and idleness to the republic? We 
have been faithful to provide for those who have 
been sent into our school rooms. Have we put 
forth any effort to get those who have not been sent, 
or to hold longer those who have been withdrawn ? 
Let us — the teachers of Northern Ohio — strive to 
know our duty in this matter, and to do it. 


Teachers' Association. 


359 


MUSIC— ITS OBJECT— HOW AND BY WHOM 
TAUGHT. 

BY N. COE STEWART, CLEVELAND. 

The terms music, singing, musician, music- 
teaching and education in music are so imperfectly 
and variously understood, both from lack of 
research, and because there are so few persons 
in whose lives music has performed its proper 
functions, that an explanation of them is thought 
to be appropriate. 

In casting about us we find the great mass of 
human beings engaged at their several callings as 
laborers, tradesmen, professionals, etc., in that 
almost interminable exchange and interchange 
which is called business. 

Thus they go in and out, by and through, each 
for himself, and all to the inevitable destiny of man. 
Does the procuring of food, clothing, and homes 
that the body may have nourishment, protectiou 
and rest again to labor, that returning wants may be 
supplied, constitute all there is of life '4 If it do, 
the sooner the tired, harassing and sorrowing round 
be completed the better. But no ! the physical wants 
are supplied for another purpose. Let us consider. 


360 


North-Easter ?i Ohio 


Take for example a healthy person engaged 
in any laudable manual, mental or training 
labor. He understands well, we will suppose, the 
art of feeding and caring for his own body and 
mind, that they may perform the work required of 
them in the best possible manner. He allows, 
without the slightest approach to jealousy, that 
he is but an integral part of humanity, and con- 
sequently has relations to others that are quite as 
obligatory, and should be as carefully considered, 
and the duties they impose as cheerfully performed, 
as those pertaining to himself. He also appreciates 
that there is a creating, assisting, controlling and 
judging power, above and beyond all, for whose 
glory he labors, whose sympathy he has, and 
whose plaudit, “ well done,” and “enter into rest,” 
will be given, when the faithful life is ended. 

Now, with this healthy, liberal and cultivated 
person as an ideal, let us — by taking our own 
thoughts and emotions, and our observation of the 
actions and expressed feelings of others, as a 
standard, and, with due allowance for those not 
up to the standard of the person before us — 
follow him into action and witness the phenome- 
non. The healthy action of his system gives, 
when he rises in the morning after a night of 


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refreshing sleep, a thrill of pleasure, and his 
thoughts are raised to heaven in thankfulness. He 
meets the family household, exchanges greetings, 
and rejoices in the love of home. He sits down 
to his nourishing food, glad that his labor brings 
it, and eats with delight. His appetite satisfied, 
he sets out to his duties with elastic step, rejoiced 
that he is able and is permitted to labor for 
himself and those dependent upon him. As he 
meets his fellows and exchanges courtesies, his 
feelings are kind, and he is glad that they too 
are permitted the activities of life. He begins work, 
and while his mind is engaged in its successful 
accomplishment, his emotions take a long train of 
quiet delight. Something goes wrong, and in the 
disaster and perplexity — in the absorption of right- 
ing it, his emotions are depressed and complex. 
Again, all goes well, and he is elated. He listens to 
stories of success, and tales of sorrow, with friendly 
gratulations and sympathetic emotion. He becomes 
thirsty and hungry, and refreshing himself— 
his emotions are those of intensity and gratitude. 
After the work of the day, with the concomitant 
u ups and downs” and varied incidents of which 
all know, he returns to the privacy and the 
love of home. Now, or at some time during 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


the day, comes his leisure, when he reads the 
news, engages in conversation, counsels respect- 
ing the welfare of the family, enjoys the social 
circle — takes part in furthering the interests of 
philanthropy and charity, studies, contemplates the 
beautiful, or gives himself up to the enjoyment of 
music. And thus his emotions, having been played 
upon throughout their entire scale, from the gravest 
to the most acute, and with all the varying shades 
of intensity and velocity, he lies down to rest, 
thankful that he has been permitted to enjoy so 
much in doing for himself and his kind. 

That this imperfect picture, with variations above 
and below, caused by a greater or less appreciation 
of the duties and relations of life, is about an aver- 
age one with honest, conscientious and industrious 
persons, I think you will allow. You will also 
conclude that it is what he feels — his emotions — in 
connection with, and independent of thought, that 
make up the greater part of his life. The food 
which nourishes, the labor which brings the food, 
and the varied incidents and occasions are only used 
as means to keep the instrument in tune, and by 
playing upon it, make that music of the soul which 
goes up well pleasing to the ear of Him by whom 
and for whose glory all things are, and were created. 


Teachers' Association. 


363 


It follows too, that it is not only legitimate that 
proper emotions should be cultivated, but also as 
expression is essential to their development, that our 
relation to others, and in justice to ourselves, an art 
medium for their expression is demanded. 

What shall be their language ? Poetry will not 
answer the purpose. Its primal use was to arrange 
thoughts in a regular and euphonious rhythm, as an 
aid to memory, and no matter how beautiful the 
thought, there still remains the emotion beyond, 
clamoring for expression. Gfood poets appreciate 
rhythm, but not necessarily melody. “Pope, on 
hearing Handel play some of his finest pieces, 
declared that they gave him no sort of pleasure, 
that his ears were of a reprobate cast that greatly 
preferred the simplicity of a ballad. Poets often 
possess no other faculty in common with the musi- 
cian than that of rhythm. Dr. Johnson was a poet 
of Pope’s description, and Sir Walter Scott, the 
greatest writer of his age, has said, he had not an 
ear for anything in music beyond a ballad tune, or 
a march. The immortal Byron, it is said by Mr. 
Moore, felt no gratification from music, except from 
a simple air. While it is equally true that the lyric 
bards, Shakspeare, Milton and Moore, have written 
with all the feelings of the most sensitive musiciarj.” 


364 


North-Eastern Ohio 


Painting will not do, for although the conception 
may be grand, the picture in proportion, shape and 
color true to nature, still it is a thought, and there 
remains the emotion it produces unexpressed. 

Although there is an emotional region indepen- 
dent of thought, in which takes place a never 
ceasing play and endless succession of emotions, 
simple and complex, “it will be necessary to put 
emotion itself into the crucible of thought, that the 
ground of contact between it and sound may be 
shown.” 

I. Elation and Depresslon. — When a man is 
suffering from intense thirst, in a sandy desert, the 
emotional font within him is at a low ebb ; but, on 
catching sight of a pool of water not far off, he 
instantly becomes highly elated, and, forgetting his 
fatigue, he hastens forward upon a new platform of 
feeling. On arriving at the water he finds it too salt 
to drink, and his emotion, from the highest elation, 
sinks at once to the deepest depression. 

II. Velocity. — At this crisis our traveler sees a 
man with a water skin coming toward him, and his 
hopes instantly rise ; and, running up to him, he 
relates how his hopes have been suddenly raised, 
and as suddenly cast down ; but long before his 
words have expressed his meaning, he has, with 


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365 


the utmost mental velocity, repassed through the 
emotions of elation and depression. 

III. Intensity. — As he drinks, his. emotion in- 
creases in intensity, up to a point where his thirst 
becomes quenched, and every drop taken after that 
is accompanied by less and less pungent or intense 
feeling. 

TV. Variety. — Up to this time his emotion has 
been comparatively simple; but a suffering com- 
panion now arrives, and as he hands to him the 
grateful cup his emotions become complex, that is 
to say, he experiences a variety of emotions simul- 
taneously — contentment, gratitude and joy. 

V. Form. — These emotions, it will be seen, suc- 
ceed each other in one order rather than another, 
and are at length combined with a definite purpose 
in certain fixed proportions. 

Now in music, corresponding to elation and 
depression, we have the musical scales, the human 
voice giving any gradation of sound between the 
tones of the scale, we thus can get any degree 
of elation or depression. For velocity we have 
the relative length of sounds, the rapidity with 
which sounds follow each other, and the varying 
tempos. For intensity , we have the degrees of 
loudness or softness, the crescendo, diminuendo, etc. 


366 


North-Eastern Ohio 


For variety , “we have only to think of the sim- 
plest duet or trio, to realize how perfectly music 
possesses this powerful property of complex emo- 
tion:” and we have only to glance at a score 
of Beethoven or Spohr, to see how almost any 
emotion, however complex, is susceptible of musi- 
cal expression. For form, “Nothing is more 
common than to hear it said that Mozart is master 
of form, that Beethoven is obscure, etc. Of course 
what is meant is, that in the arrangement and 
development of the musical phrases there is a greater 
or less fitness of proportion, producing an effect of 
unity or incoherence, as the case may be.” We 
thus have in music, it will be seen, properties corres- 
ponding to the emotional properties, with symbols 
to represent them, and music thus arises to the great 
dignity of the royal art — medium of the emotions. 

(If it were asked just here if the benefits of music 
were designed for all, the answer would certainly 
be, in Yankee fashion, Can all feel? Do all have 
emotions ?) 

Now what is music? It is common to speak of 
the “lark’s gay song,” the “nightingale’s trill,” 
the “cuckoo’s tender notes,” the mournful song of 
the wind, etc. ; but when these are so exactly imi- 
tated as to deceive the birds themselves, with a 


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367 


whistle in a tumbler of water, a short whistle with 
the mouth, by boys whistling upon their fists, or 
the sound of the wind by compressing one’s lips 
and moaning, they cease under such circumstances 
to be either musical or romantic. “The harmo- 
nies of nature are purely metaphorical. There is 
no music in nature, neither melody nor harmony. 
Music is man’s creation. He does not reproduce in 
music any combination of sounds he has heard or 
could possibly hear in the natural world, as the 
painter transfers to his canvas the forms and tints 
he sees around him. Ho! the musician seizes the 
rough element of sound and compels it to work 
his will.” 

“Music, properly defined, is a science which 
teaches the properties, dependences and relations 
of melodious sounds, and is divided into two parts — 
theoretical and practical. Theoretical music com- 
prehends the knowledge of harmony and modula- 
tion, and the laws of that successive arrangement of 
sound by which an air or melody is produced. 
Practical music is the art of bringing this knowl- 
edge and those laws into operation, by actually 
disposing of the sounds, both in combination and 
succession, so as to produce the desired effect; 
and this is composition. It also extends to the 


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North-Eastern Ohio 


performance of these melodious and harmonious 
compositions. 

“The composer, after knowing the laws of com- 
position, and, by long practice, having taught his 
emotions to flow out through the channel of 
musical sound, seizes upon some element in nature, 
under favoring circumstances, as the wailing of the 
wind, the hum of insect life, song of birds, the cries 
of animals, the natural inflections of the human 
voice, and the various noises of nature, and a 4 song 
without words,’ a symphony or a musical compo- 
sition of some other character is the result.” 

Or more properly, as vocal music is commonly 
understood, the poem or thought presented to the 
composer produces appropriate emotions, which 
through the channel of the words flow out in 
musical cadences, along the rhythmic lines, until, 
like man and wife 44 the twain are joined as 
one.” 

(A passing thought will suggest, that much, then, 
of what is called poetry is not fit material for 
musical composition ; and if only that which is fit 
were used, what a havoc would be made with the 
hymn books ! and what a host of unhappy mar- 
riages would be prevented !) 

From the foregoing it is evident that music is not 


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369 


only the art medium of emotion, but that con- 
versely, by properly understanding and interpreting 
a composition and catching its true spirit, it becomes 
the most certain instrument by which any and all 
emotions may be produced. History is full of 
heroic deeds and human sacrifices caused by its 
potent power. What myriads of beautiful and 
tender things, what countless thoughts of some of 
earth’s greatest men must be forever hidden from 
him whose education has denied this soul culti- 
vation, and the great benefits a theoretical and 
practical knowledge of its art medium confers. 
What an irreparable deprivation ! 

The correct manner of studying a composition, 
and what a proper rendering of it is, are also 
clearly indicated by the foregoing. Also it must 
. be evident that singing, understanding^, legit- 
imate songs, and thus coming in contact with the 
purest, loftiest and holiest thoughts, is one of the 
mightiest agencies in lifting man God-ward ; and 
when it is considered that music is exceedingly 
attractive — from its very nature a natural element 
for man — the wonder is that its insinuating power 
for good is not more universally employed ; and it 
is surprising, indeed, that any one, with a pretense 
to education should claim that it is a “ special gift 


24 


370 


'North- Eastern Ohio 


to a favored few,” and use his influence in keeping 
it out of the channels through which it might flow 
to every child. Ignorance of its benefits can be his 
only excuse. 

The wretched, abnormal lives of many musicians 
is often used as an argument against learning to 
sing. These cases show, usually, that only this one 
side has been cultivated, and hence the man is as 
far from rational development, as he would be 
physically, should he fetter every other member 
and exercise only a leg or an arm. 

That all can learn to sing, to the limit of their 
voices ; and understand its theory according to the 
power of their minds ; and enjoy its beauties to the 
extent of their capacity to feel, is abundantly proven 
by the thousands of schools in our own country and 
Germany, in which you will not find a pupil who 
does not sing ; and many pupils too of that class 
who claimed that “ the Almighty forgot them and 
their forefathers when he distributed his divine gift 
among the children of men.” It is true in this, as 
in other studies, that all pupils do not seem to grasp 
the truth and show forth the practical results at the 
same time or with equal facility, or even at once 
show that any benefit whatever has been derived 
from it. But behold the sower broadcasting seed; it 


Teachers' dissociation. 


373 


is covered in the ground and lies for days without 
sign of life ; by and by a blade peeps up here and 
there — not all spears at once ; after a little, living 
spots are seen as though the sower’s work had 
been poorly done; a little longer and the tardy 
ones show themselves — the field is matted over 
with a carpet of green, which, although beautiful, 
only gives promise of the blossom, and the rich, 
ripe harvest to come. 

That teaching music to all is entirely practicable 
and will pay, no one who will visit the schools of 
Cleveland and witness a lesson in music will deny. 
He will see the pupils writing correctly melodies 
they never before heard, and which are sung by the 
teacher, thus indicating a quickness of perception, 
comparison, concentration, exercise of memory and 
thorough understanding of the subject that is 
rarely if ever equaled in any other study — will 
see them sing readily at sight new songs, difficult 
in proportion to the grade — will hear the smooth, 
ringing voices, and feel the thrill that hearty, intelli- 
gent singing alone can give. 

Further, consider that in the high schools, by 
taking one, two, three or more for each part, 
making your selection, almost with blinded eyes, 
and you may have a choir of any desired size, that 


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Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


will sing well, ordinary music for church, social 
or other occasions. 

Notice that, on the streets, the ribald song is 
never heard from a school boy. Go into the 
thousands of homes and hear the parents, the little 
children, the servants, humming the beautiful school 
songs, and see the parent and servant, for reproof, 
often using the truth taught in these songs 
instead of the harsh word and angry stroke, and 
ask does it pay ? Hear the recommendation of 
the most eminent physicians as to the healthful- 
ness of singing. See how it lightens toil, witness 
its soothing power in affliction, its cheering 
companionship in solitude, its consolation in loss, 
its power in loving sympathy, and ask will it pay 
to cultivate such a friend ? It needs no argument to 
prove that people will have music of some kind. 
The organization of society demands it, then why 
not cultivate it properly, so that it will be a real 
thing and not a pretense? “ Will it pay the poor 
children who spend only two or three years in 
school to study music?” Music of some sort 
they will have ; if they do not learn to read 
music they must learn their tunes from others; 
as they are not admitted to what is termed refined 
society, they are likely to know only the poorly 


Teachers’ Association. 


373 


learned odds and ends of tunes, picked up from 
the street musician, or the still more insipid jigs 
and quadrilles of the dancing-room fiddler. By 
learning to read music, if only well enough to 
“pick out a tune” by themselves, they have 
the power, and will never fail to use it, to sup- 
ply themselves with new and good music, and thus, 
as music in books and various forms can be pur- 
chased so cheaply, they have within themselves a 
means of affording pure pastime and pleasure, and 
consequently are not only prevented from the low 
indulgences that poverty and idleness are sure to 
bring, but by this very means are brought into con- 
tact with the pure and good, and thus put in the 
way of elevation to true manhood and womanhood. 

Again a taste for good music will be formed, and 
through the necessary practice to sing smoothly and 
with expression, they are brought in contact with 
refinement and are led away from coarseness. 

Not teach music to the poor ! Prevent them 
from obtaining the only means their circumstances 
will allow of making their lives enjoyable, virtu- 
ous and happy ! No ! a thousand times no ! but 
rather, after teaching them reading, writing and 
arithmetic, let it be the aim to give them this power. 

Respecting the oft-repeated assertion that “the 


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North-Easi cm Ohio 


common-school teacher is usually not musical, and 
therefore not tit to do the work,” I would say, that 
teachers, as a rule, have good sense and aptness ; 
and when they comprehend that the work is to be 
done by them, they will seek to do it well, and will 
avail themselves of whatever helps are at their 
command, properly to qualify for the work. If, 
therefore, they are properly instructed and guided, 
excellent results will soon be seen. Oftentimes the 
professional musician is not the best teacher. From 
his lack of knowledge of ‘‘teaching as an art,” his 
mistaken notions respecting who should learn, and 
how ; his lack of sympathy for the dullard ; and, 
lastly, by his irritability and nervousness, he is 
unfitted for the work. Now, put the regular teacher, 
with her helps — her tact, her ambition to learn, that 
she may do it well, and, “last but not least,” her 
warm sympathy — over against the majority of pro- 
fessionals, and which would you choose for the 
instruction of children % Of course, if our teachers 
were good musicians, it would be much better ; 
but the demand once made — the supply will be 
forthcoming. 

Among the reasons other than feasibility and 
cheapness, why music should be taught in the public 1 
schools is, that in all of its departments of voice 


Teachers' Association. 


375 


cultivation, reading and feeling, it is a growth, 
and it is only when it becomes a part of the child, 
growing with its growth, that it is fully possessed. 
It may be commenced later and give much profit, 
but never to the same degree as when commenced 
in childhood. 

How shall it he taught ? Tunes, longer or shorter, 
like paragraphs, chapters or treatises, are composed 
of individual expressions, or phrases and sentences ; 
and are susceptible of as many or more divisions, 
simple, complex and compound, as they. These 
expressions, likewise, are composed of smaller 
groups and individual sounds. It is thoughts we 
clothe in words ; so it should be “musical thoughts” 
we sing. While the word or sound must be learned, 
spelled, pronounced, and its properties and office 
understood, yet it is only a thread in the garment 
which clothes the idea. 

Manifestly, then, the course to be pursued in 
teaching music is very similar to that in teaching 
any other language. The child, before it goes to 
school, from hearing its elders, learns to pronounce 
words, talk, and, in an imperfect way, think. So it 
should learn to sing songs, tunes and think musical 
thoughts. But in the majority of cases it does not 
so learn and, practically, when it comes to school it 
has entered a new world and is an infant, 


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'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


f Where naught is known, 

Nor e’en the seed is sown. 

It matters not at what age the study is com- 
menced, all who begin are infants — a very difficult 
and unpalatable thing for large boys and girls to 
appreciate ; and hence one of the greatest obstacles 
in the way of an immediate introduction of music 
into all schools. But once this obstacle surmounted, 
and the road fairly entered, to reach the end only 
requires proper guiding, and the traveling is step by 
step over the intervening leagues through a way 
beautiful in scenery, bordered with flowers and 
redolent with nature’s minstrelsy. But to return — 
beginning, then, with a cipher in knowledge for capi- 
tal, only the materials — body and mind — nature has 
furnished to work with, it is evident that the first 
work is imitation. Hear songs (listen to stories, 
carrying out the parallel of reading); learn to repeat 
sounds of different pitch and power (repeat words); 
sing motives (small adjuncts). Sections (now com- 
plex modifiers), phrases (sentences), and finally 
entire melodies (complete paragraphs). It must be 
hearing and doing, in those things and in that way, 
which will impart correct thoughts and will form 
correct habits of thinking and of expression. 

This imitative exercise should be continued from 
period to period, grade to grade, until the memory 


Teachers' Association. 


377 


becomes strong enough to retain an entire song 
from once hearing ; until the correct manner of 
phrasing is acquired ; until individual sounds can be 
correctly sung and connected ; the proper quality of 
tone used, and in short until the pupil can remem- 
ber and sing a song in a manner that will convey 
completely to the hearer, without criticism as to man- 
ner, the author’ s meaning. But to stop here would 
leave the pupil entirely dependent on a teacher. 
While he is learning from his teacher how to do, he 
should be constantly gaining strength that he may 
go alone eventually, and hence from the first he 
must learn theoretically to classify sounds in their 
relative length, pitch and power ; must learn the 
appearance and names of the characters which 
represent or indicate these properties ; must learn 
the laws of rhythm, and step by step become pro- 
ficient in practice, that, as in reading, first easy 
stories, then more difficult ones, and thus on until 
the most difficult songs may be sung readily at 
sight, although profound music may require study 
to fathom its meaning. And as in reading, cor- 
relative with the singing comes the writing. This 
should be begun with the earliest lessons and grow 
with the growth of the pupil, until he can write 
with readiness what he hears and thinks. Another 


378 


North- Eastern Ohio 


feature of singing is expression, without which tunes 
are but pretty noises, rhythmically and melodically 
arranged — a house without an inhabitant ; a body 

without a soul. Here again, as in reading, the song 

# 

may be run over hastily to catch the meaning, but 
when sung for the benefit of one’s self or others it 
should be given out as a living thing, a part of the 
very soul. 

Thus to produce his own or another’s tune 
thoughts requires also gradual and progressive 
training, and like the singing voice training. Sing- 
ing at sight and writing, are not learned until like 
food, appropriated by the system, they become a 
part of the being. 

I have thus sketched, as it were, the ground 
plan, and only indicated what this great building 
should be, referring to a future essay for detailed 
statement of all apartments, finish and processes. 
But enough has been said, I hope, to give you an 
idea of its grand proportions, and the entire practi- 
cability of every corporation possessing it. And 
may I not trust that you, leading educators, whose 
influence is so powerful, may not only be the 
supervising architects in its erection in your several 
communities, but also lend the aid of your cunning 
hands to under workmen, until it shall stand forth 


Teachers’ Association . 


379 


in all its magnificence one of the chief attractions to 
visitors, and the pride and glory of your people. 


A SYSTEM OF TEACHING DRAWING FOR 
THE COMMON SCHOOLS. 

BY FRANK ABORN, CLEVELAND. 

The purpose of this paper is to present simply 
such of the cardinal points of a system of teaching 
drawing in the common schools as will enable this 
Association to judge of its merits as a force in prac- 
tical education, and to form a just estimate of the 
degree of success with which it would meet, in the 
hands of the regular class teacher. It will not be 
expedient, therefore, to enter into any discussion, 
either of the intrinsic or relative value of the study 
of drawing, or any comparison of this with any 
other system of teaching it. 

In order that there may be a clear understanding 
of the plan of instruction, and the principles which 
underlie it, it will be necessary, first, to settle what 
should be the ultimate result sought. 

Drawing being a pictorial language or mode of 
expression, by its study results similar to those 
obtained by the study of written language might 


380 


'North-Easter n Ohio 


reasonably be expected, and every practical edu- 
cator, to be consistent, must demand, that if drawing 
is to have a place in the common schools, and be 
ranked among the elementary branches of education, 
it shall be so taught that every pupil may acquire 
the ability to express himself by lines. 

It cannot reasonably be expected, either by this 
or any other method of teaching drawing, to make 
a Michael Angelo, a Turner, or a ETast even, of each 
pupil, however good the method or however indus- 
trious, earnest, thoughtful or ingenious the teacher 
may be, any more than it is expected to make a 
Carlyle, a Goethe, or even a Mark Twain of each 
pupil by the study of written language. But we 
do teach each child, who is not mentally deficient, 
not only to read, but to express himself in written 
characters, to a degree of accuracy and finish 
depending upon his advantages for education, his 
industry, and his natural ability. 

Before a system of teaching drawing can be pro- 
duced, by which the average pupil can be taught 
how to express himself by lines, with the same 
degree of success that he is taught to express him- 
self in written characters, or before we can judge 
as to the merits of any system which is presented 
to our notice, we must come to an understanding 


Teachers' Association. 


381 


of what it is necessary to know, in order to be able 
to draw ; next, we must ascertain what course of 
study will lead most directly to the pupil’s acquir- 
ing the necessary information ; and, finally we must 
ascertain how so to present the subject, that the 
pupils may acquire the maximum of practical 
knowledge and skill in the least time. 

One knows how to draw when he knows how to 
make the lines, and what kind of lines to make ; as 
well as where, in what direction, and of what length 
to make them, so that they shall together illustrate 
or express the idea it is intended that they shall 
illustrate or express. 

In order to lay out our course of study then, in 
this branch, let us separate all kinds of drawing 
into classes ; the basis of such classification being, 
the relation which the lines in the drawing have to 
the lines which they represent, and then classify all 
subjects to be drawn under these different heads. 
Drawings may be divided into two general classes 
or kinds ; first, such as contain only lines, which 
either really are, or are understood to be, in one 
plane, and that plane parallel to the plane of the 
picture ; second, drawings whose lines are the pro- 
jections of lines in space upon one or more planes of 
projection ; that is, drawings in which the lines 


382 


North-Easter n Ohio 


have positions relative to each other, depending 
upon the position of the lines in the object which 
they represent, relative to the plane of projection. 

There are two methods of projection in common 
use. One of these is the projection of lines in space 
upon one plane by converging rays, or, as it is com- 
monly called, perspective, or object drawing, and 
the other is the projection of lines in space upon 
two or more planes by parallel lines, or, as it is 
commonly called, mechanical drawing, industrial 
drawing, or orthographic projections. The object 
of the first or perspective drawing is to represent 
objects on a flat surface as they appear. The object 
of the second method of projections is to represent 
each line and part of a line in an object, that its true 
dimensions may be accurately ascertained from the 
drawing. 

The classification of all drawings being complete, 
we may now proceed to arrange all subjects to be 
drawn under these heads ; as drawings of the first- 
class (from the flat) may be geometrical figures, as 
squares, triangles, circles, etc., either singly or in 
groups. They may be conventional ornament for 
surface decoration.'* They may be the copy of any 

* Lest there should be some misunderstanding as to what is meant by 
the term conventional ornament for surface decoration, I will say that 
the term as here used, signifies any surface decoration which is the ideal 


Teachers’ Association. 


383 


picture, design, diagram, or other drawing. Draw- 
ings of the second-class include the representation 
of all objects, whether by perspective or ortho- 
graphic projections. 

Perspective drawing includes the representation 
of all objects, and it will be convenient for us to 
separate them into groups depending upon the 
nature of their lines of contour ; such as, first, 
straight line objects ; second, such objects as contain 
both curved and straight lines ; and third, such 
objects as have no straight lines. All objects may 
also be represented by orthographic projections, 
though commonly used only by mechanics, engi- 
neers and architects for industrial purposes, or by 
mathematicians as an aid in the investigation and 
explanation of mathematical truths. 

It is necessary now to ascertain upon what 
depends the ability to represent each class of sub- 
jects just named. To represent squares, triangles, 
etc., the pupil must first have a clear conception of 
what the figure is. Next, he must understand the 
kind of line composing it, and, finally, he must be 
able to make the kind of lines required. 

To make conventional ornament, the pupil must 

representation of any object or objects, making no attempt at the expres- 
sion of solidity, though, exaggerating, perhaps, some if not all the 
characteristics of the object or objects represented. 


3 84 


North- Eastern Ohio 


first be able to make the lines required ; second, he 
must be able to make ideal representations of natural 
objects ; and, third, he must know that ornamental 
designs must be appropriate to the character of the 
object ornamented, and that each design should 
embody some sentiment, which is also appropriate. 
The pupil, to make ornamental designs, to any 
purpose, should be able to make and so combine 
ideal forms for ornamentation, that these ends may 
be secured, at least, in some degree ; otherwise he 
will be only a copyist at the best. 

To make a true copy of any drawing it is 
necessary to be able to make lines, which are 
exactly proportional in length, which have the same 
relative direction, and which are exactly similar in 
character and quality of stroke to the corresponding 
lines in the copy. 

To make a perspective drawing of any object in 
which there are straight lines only, the pupil must 
be able, first, to ascertain the direction and length 
of each line visible in the object, measured in a 
plane parallel to the plane of the picture ; second, 
he must be able to make lines of given length and 
direction ; third, be able to “read” from the object 
the position the lines in the drawing should have, 
relative to each other, to look like the lines in the 


Teachers' Association . 


385 


object which they represent ; ancl finally, under- 
stand the structure of the object studied. 

To be able to represent objects in which the line 
of contour is a mixed line, or composed of both 
curved and straight lines, the pupil must be able to 
represent straight line objects ; he must understand 
the effect of the position of curved lines relative to 
the plane of the picture, upon the nature of the lines 
which represent them in the picture ; and, also, be 
familiar with the structure and characteristics of the 
object to be represented. 

To represent animal forms the pupil must be able 
to represent objects, whose line of contour is a 
mixed line, and understand the anatomy, habits 
and characteristics of the animal studied. 

To represent any object by orthographic pro- 
jections, the pupil must understand descriptive 
geometry, or be able to project lines in space upon 
planes of projections by parallel lines. 

Having classed all drawing under two heads, and 
having arranged all subjects to be drawn under 
these heads, and having ascertained upon what 
depends the ability to represent each class of 
subjects, it will be necessary, next, to ascertain the 
relative teaching value of the study of each class of 
subjects, and then to arrange the different classes in 


386 


North-Eastern Ohio 


such order that the study of each class shall so 
succeed and so supplement the other, that each step 
shall be such a steady, gradual growth toward the 
desired end as will give the average pupil the most 
comprehensive knowledge of the subject in the 
least time, and such, that if he withdraws from 
school at any time, all that he does know will be 
practically available, and at the same time be the 
foundation upon which he can build as he has time, 
opportunity and inclination. 

By the study of geometrical figures, as squares, 
triangles, etc., the pupil will learn how to make 
lines of a given length, direction and position, and 
because tliq ability to make any drawing depends 
primarily upon the ability to make lines of known 
length, direction and position the study of this class 
of subjects should precede all others. 

Rejecting the study of drawing by copying, on 
the same principle, and for the same reason, that I 
would reject the study of arithmetic by copying the' 
solution of problems, and deferring the study of 
design until such time as the pupil has learned to 
draw from objects, because the ability to design 
depends, in a good degree, at least, upon the ability 
to represent natural forms from the object, the 
next step in the course of study should be the 


Teachers' Association. 


38? 


representation of straight lines in space on a flat sur- 
face as they appear. 

By the study of straight line objects the pupil 
will learn how to ascertain the apparent direction, 
length and position of straight lines in space, and 
besides this he will learn more concerning the form 
and construction of objects, and also the observing 
faculty will be cultivated to a much greater degree 
than can be done by any other study. The study of 
straight lines as they appear should immediately 
succeed the study of straight lines as they are, and 
will, therefore, form the second step in the course of 
study. 

Objects of the second-class — namely, such as 
those whose line of contour is a mixed line, may 
be divided into two sub-classes, as artificial and 
natural objects. For the same reason that the pro- 
ducts of man’s labor and skill are more easily 
reproduced than the products of nature, even in the 
imitation of form simply, so the representation of 
tools and furniture requires less skill and study 
than the representation of trees and flowers. 

By the study of the former, the pupil will learn 
the effect which the position of the less subtile of 
the curved lines relative to the picture plane has upon 
their appearance in the picture ; the sense of form, 


388 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


proportion and construction will become clearer and 
broader, and the observing faculty will be further 
developed. It should, therefore, immediately suc- 
ceed the study of straight line objects, and form the 
third step in the course of study. 

The representation of natural forms, either vege- 
table or mineral, would naturally come next in 
order, if the only object were- to teach the pupil to 
draw. But, as its study would require a great 
variety, as well as quantity of models, or much 
out-of-door work, it would be better now, since the 
pupil should have acquired, by this time, such a 
degree of skill in drawing from objects, that he can 
represent any artificial household utensil, or its 
equivalent at sight, to teach him how to adapt vege- 
table forms to ornamentation ; first in the flat and 
then in relief, and let the representation of the exact 
forms themselves, occupy, as it were, a second or 
subordinate place. The study of design, therefore, 
forms the fourth step in the course. 

The study of the third class of objects— animal 
forms— carries the study of lines and forms to the 
utmost limit, and besides that, and better than all, 
it conducts the pupil to the very centre of art cul- 
ture, which is the study of the human form. To 
represent objects of this class requires a knowledge 


Teachers 1 Association . 


389 


of the anatomy, habits and characteristics of the 
animal studied, and is a limitless field for work. 
The study of animal forms belongs, more especially, 
however, to the domain of the art school. It may 
be, that the time will come, when it can, and should, 
be studied in connection with physiology ; but under 
the existing state of affairs it would seem, that as 
there is so much else that is yet unlearned and for 
which there is great need in the mechanical way, 
that its study should be postponed until such 
time as the pupils of the common schools, in the 
higher grades at least, can make working drawings 
of simple structures in plan and elevation. 

The study of projections is one which, to master 
thoroughly, requires a mind somewhat disciplined, 
and much hard study ; but the pupils of the com- 
mon schools can be taught to make the drawings for 
dwelling houses in plan and elevation, to that 
degree of success, that they are able to make 
drawings which shall so express their ideas, that a 
professional architect can read from them, exactly 
what the designer wants, and enable the designer in 
his turn to know if he gets what he wants, and if 
not wherein lies the difficulty. 

So far we have determined only the order in 
which each division of the subject should be taken 


390 


Forth-Eastern Ohio 


up, and to wliat purpose it is to be studied. Our 
aim now should be to devise some method by which 
these ends can be best attained ; but before we do 
that let me restate briefly, in their order, the subjects 
to be studied and the object aimed at in each. 

First , the study of geometrical figures, as squares, 
and combinations of squares, etc., to the end that 
the pupil may understand lines, and be able to 
make them having a given length, direction and 
position. Second , the study of the representation 
of straight line objects on a flat surface, to the end 
that the pupil may learn how to ascertain the 
apparent direction, length, and position of lines in 
space measured in a plane parallel to the plane of 
the picture, and be able to make lines on the picture 
plane, whose real direction, length and position in 
the picture are the apparent length, direction and 
position of the corresponding line in the object. 
Third , the study of simple artificial structures, to 
the end that the pupil may learn how to represent 
such lines as he cannot readily measure — curved 
lines — in their apparent length, direction and posi- 
tion. Fourth , the study of natural forms, and their 
application to ornamental design, to the end that 
the pupil may be led to study nature, and by that 
means, learn to adapt natural forms to the purposes 


Teachers' Association. 


391 


of ornamentation. Fifth, the study of projections, 
to the end that the pupil may learn to make 
drawings of simple objects, from which the true 
dimension and relative position of each line and 
part of line may be accurately ascertained. Finally , 
to use the knowledge of drawing, so far acquired, 
for the purposes of culture and as a means of 
education. 

W e have now come to the question : How shall 
this be done ? In answer to which it may be said : 
pursue the study of each step in order, beginning 
systematically with the simplest thing that it is 
essential the pupil should know, and of which he 
has not already a clear conception, and progressing 
thence, steadily on to the particular end in view. 

Before we can plan a system of teaching drawing, 
that will enable us to attain the ultimate end in view, 
we must come to an understanding of what is to be 
the immediate end ; that is, is it to be the immediate 
end to have each pupil execute each drawing by a 
tediously labored process of erasing and puttering ? 
or is it to have the average pupil understand the 
power and use of lines, and to know what he is 
doing, what he is doing it for, and be able to execute 
actual problems, and express or illustrate actual 
things promptly and effectually, as he uses his 


392 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


knowledge of arithmetic, and his ability to write in 
every-day life % I should say the latter ; for, if there 
is any one thing that stands in the way of the suc- 
cessful teaching of drawing, it is the feeling on the 
part of parents, teachers, pupils and the public gen- 
erally, that there must be, at each stage of the pro- 
cess, something pretty to show ; and, perhaps, — by 
the teachers doing the more difficult parts, and the 
pupils doing an indefinite amount of rubbing and 
puttering — something be done, by the more apt of 
the pupils, which will be worthy the adulation of 
admiring frieuds and an elaborate frame. For my 
part, I think that there has been quite enough of 
this done already. I consider that a book full of 
nicely worked examples in arithmetic, the whole 
work being either copied, or executed by the pupil 
under the direction and with the help of the teacher, 
just as good a criterion of an understanding of arith- 
metic as I consider a similar book full of similarly 
executed drawings a criterion of a knowledge of 
drawing. 

We aim by the study of arithmetic to give the 
pupil such a knowledge of the subject as will enable 
him to use it without help, promptly and effectually. 
The science of lines is no more difficult of compre- 
hension to the average pupil in the common schools 


Teachers' dissociation. 


393 


than is the science of numbers, and if we follow the 
same principles in the study of the one, that we do 
in the study of the other, we shall arrive at similar 
results. 

Let us suppose that we have a class of little 
people before us, who have been in school ontylong 
enough to have become acquainted with the teacher, 
and that the teacher is thoroughly master of the sit- 
uation. The teacher is to give a drawing lesson, and 
each pupil has his slate on his desk or in his lap 
before him. The teacher says, “John, bring me 
your slate.’ ’ John will come up with a will, yet 
gently. The teacher now says, “John, put your 
finger on the upper right-hand corner of your slate.” 
John will look up with What do you mean? 
written on his countenance; if the request is made 
again, he will hang his head and look silly, and 
finally he will not do it. Why not? Simply 
because he does not know what the teacher means. 
He does not know his slate. It becomes necessary 
now to teach the pupils the parts of the slate by 
name, in order that whatever they make may be, 
at least, in the right place, whether what they make 
is right or wrong. The pupils should be taught, in 
object lessons, to know the parts of the slate by 
name ; as, the sides, the corners and the faces. To 


394 


North-Eastern Ohio 


do this effectually such a lesson must not be confined 
to the slate, but the pupils must learn that the terms 
applied to their slates apply equally well to their 
desks, the end of the room, the blackboard, a book, 
etc., etc. 

Supposing now that the pupils know the parts of 
the slate, the next thing is to teach them lines. 
Lines are of three kinds, straight, crooked and 
curved, and each of these lias position, direction and 
length. Curved lines being of many kinds, and so 
difficult of explanation to little children, and the 
understanding of them not being an immediate 
necessity, as the study of drawing can proceed for a 
considerable time without the pupils knowing much 
about them, it would seem desirable not to attempt 
to teach curved lines until the pupil has a clear 
understanding of straight lines, as well as a knowl- 
edge of how to use them. The study of curved 
lines, then, being omitted, for the present, we have, 
first, to teach the pupils the difference between a 
crooked line and a straight one, by showing them 
how to test the straightness of lines with the ruler. 

The pupils should next be taught the signification 
and application of the forms horizontal and vertical ; 
that is, that they mean only fixed directions, and 
are applicable to anything which has direction. 


Teachers' flssocialion. 


395 


The pupils are inclined to confound the terms 
horizontal and vertical with straight ; and the point 
should be, by object lessons, illustration and con- 
versation, to have the pupils clearly perceive the 
signification of each of the terms just mentioned. 
In the lessons on the slate the pupils have learned 
position, and it now remains to develop in their 
minds some definite ideas of length. To do this, let 
them be taught how to test the length of lines to 
ascertain if they are too long or too short, and how 
to correct them if they are too long or too short. To 
do this each pupil should have some standard of 
measure with which to test his work. The class 
should now have practice in using the knowledge 
so far acquired, by making figures from the black- 
board — beginning with very simple figures and 
proceeding to more complicated ones as they 
acquire skill. These should be memory and 
dictation lessons, as well as lessons in which the 
pupils use no test whatever, at regular intervals. 
By a process similar to that I have just named, 
the average child will acquire sufficient skill 
to make quite complicated figures, composed of 
straight lines which are one half inch, one inch 
and two inches long in the first year of school, in 
daily lessons of twenty minutes. The pupils now 


396 


North- Eastern Ohio 


understand lines in their real position, direction 
and length, and they are ready to commence the 
study of the representation, on a flat surface, of 
straight lines in space as they appear. 

As a first step in the study of lines as they 
appear it is necessary to establish the position of 
the picture plane. This, except in special cases, is 
always understood to be perpendicular to a line 
drawn from the eye to the picture centre. 

Since the pupils have previously learned to draw 
lines having a given direction, the next step in the 
study of lines as they appear, is to afford the pupils 
some means which will enable them to find a line 
whose real direction is the apparent direction of 
the line to be represented. 

Since our arms are equally long, if we hold a 
ruler out at arm’s length between the tips of the 
fingers of each hand, and look straight to the front, 
the ruler, no matter how much it may slant, will be, 
approximately, perpendicular to the line of sight. 
Now, if we hold a ruler at arm’s length, and in 
such a position, that the line we wish to represent is 
seen along its edge, the direction of the ruler will 
be the apparent direction of the line in space, and is 
the direction the line in the picture should have to 
look like the line to be represented. The pupils 


Teachers ’ Association . 


307 


should have considerable practice in finding the 
apparent direction of lines by studying lines drawn 
on the blackboard, lines in the windows, doors, 
etc., and then be taught how to find the apparent 
length of lines. The pupils having been taught how 
to find the apparent length and direction of lines, 
they are ready to begin the study of straight line 
objects, commencing with a simple square frame. 
The pupils should not only be able to draw each 
object studied from the object, but should be able 
to represent it in dictated positions without the 
object. Besides this, they should so clearly under- 
stand the effect of change of position on the 
appearance of lines in space, that of two drawings 
of the same object, the pupil should be able to tell 
what was the difference in the position of the object 
as represented by the two figures, as Figs. 1 and 2. 



The pupil should be able to tell at a glance that Fig. 
1 represents a square higher above the level of the 


398 


North-Eastern Ohio 


eye than Fig. 2, because the upper and lower lines, 
slant more in Fig. 1 than they do in Fig. 2; that Fig. 
1 represents the square as turned more than Fig. 2, 
because it is narrower in proportion to its height 
than Fig. 1; and that Fig. 1 represents a square that 
is farther off than Fig. 2, because it is smaller. 

The pupil should study straight line objects until 
they can represent them understanding^, which 
should be accomplished in the second school year, 
by daily lessons of twenty minutes. 

Suppose now that the pupils understand the 
effect of the position of straight lines relative to the 
picture plane upon their appearance in the picture, 
the next point is to teach them the effect of the 
position of curved lines relative to the plane of the 
picture upon their appearance in the picture. To 
do the latter let us try to ascertain what effect the 
position of a circle relative to the plane of the 
picture has upon its appearance. 

We are enabled to see an obiect by rays of light 
reflected from the object to the eye, and so long as 
these rays do not pass from a denser to a rarer 
medium, or the reverse, they pass in straight lines 
from the object to the eye ; and when reflected 
from a circle, they, together, form either a right 
cone with a circular base, an oblique cone with a 


Teachers' ttssocialion. 


399 


circular base, or a triangular pencil of light. Now 
if we pass a plane through this cone or pencil of 
rays we shall cut out a circle, an ellipse, a parabola, 
a hyperbola, '* or a straight line. We shall cut out 
a circle when the plane passed through the cone of 
rays is parallel to the base. We shall cut out an 
ellipse when the plane passed through the cone is 
at an angle with the base of the cone. We shall cut 
out a straight line when the rays of light reflected 
from the circle form a flat pencil of light. 

To state the conditions briefly, under which a 
circle will appear in the picture plane as a circle, an 
ellipse or a straight line, I would say, that a circle 
as appears a circle when it is parallel to the plane 
of the picture. A circle appears as an ellipse when 
any of its diameters are foreshortened. A circle 
appears as a straight line when its width is fore- 
shortened to zero. 

Having ascertained what will represent a circle 
under various conditions, it becomes necessary now 
to find a way to teach the pupil to represent a circle 
in any position. 

To do this it is necessary that the pupils first 

♦Note.— W e should not cut out a parabola, or a hyperbola under 
ordinary conditions— with the plane of the picture perpendicular to the 
line of sight— and, therefore, we will not consider that they are among 
the things to be taught. 


400 


'Norlh-EasUrn Ohio 


learn to make a circle. Next they should be taught 
what an ellipse is, and to make one. The teacher 
should not rely on the pupil’s acquiring the ability 
to make a circle or an ellipse by simply copying 
them in an indefinite period, but should use every 
means at his command to give the pupil a clear 
conception of the form of each. 

Now let a simple toy hoop, say two feet and a 
half in diameter, be placed before the class, and let 
them be taught how to find the direction of the long 
diameter of the ellipse which will represent the cir- 
cle in that position, by measuring across the hoop 
through the centre, parallel to the plane of the pic- 
ture in various directions, until the place is found 
where the hoop seems to measure the most. Now 
have them make a line on the slate having the 
direction and length that the hoop seems to meas- 
ure at that point. When this is done, have them 
measure across the hoop in a direction perpendicu- 
lar to that in which it seems to measure the most, 
and then draw a line on the slate having this 
direction perpendicular to the first, as well as 
bisecting and being bisected by the first. Now 
change the position of the hoop, and let the class 
do the same again ; the teacher being himself active 
in explaining, criticising and directing. Let the 


Teachers' Association. 


401 


class practice finding the length and direction of 
the diameters of the ellipse which will represent 
the circle in various positions, until they under- 
stand how to do it, and then have them find the 
diameters and draw the ellipse to represent the 
circle in various positions, and make something 
out of each one, as a bowl, a vase, a cylinder, etc. 
After a time let the class be taught to represent a 
cylinder with lines, and after that with sticks pass- 
ing through it perpendicular to its surface. When 
this is done draw a wheel, and then a wagon. The 
pupils should be taught how to represent a flat, a 
concave and a convex surface, and so on until they 
can represent any article of furniture readily. 

From an industrial point of view the ability to 
make, and an understanding of the principles of, 
ornamental design immediately succeed in import- 
ance the ability to express the form of actual objects 
on a flat surface. It is, happily, that kind of draw- 
ing for which the pupil is best prepared ; and I will 
now attempt to explain to what purpose, as well as 
how, it may be studied profitably in the common 
schools. 

In teaching ornamental design, it is necessary for 
the pupil to learn, first, how to analyze designs 
already made, and then how to recombine the 


402 


Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


elements thus obtained to make a new design. To 
this end, let some simple design, that is large 
enough to be seen in all its parts across the 
school room, be placed before the class. After 
the teacher has explained to the class, in a few 
words, something of the purpose, as well as the 
value, of the study of design, then let him pro- 
ceed to show the class that the design before them 
is separable into parts or elements, and as he points 
out each element let him draw it on the blackboard. 
When this is done, let the teacher erase all of his 
work on the blackboard except the elements, and 
now while the idea is fresh in the minds of the 
pupils, let them try to make the rough sketch of 
an original arrangement of the same elements. Let 
as many of these be reproduced on the blackboard 
as is practicable, and after they have been examined 
and criticised let the class be allowed time enough 
to make a new design nicely on paper. 

When this is done, let another design, perhaps 
a little more elaborate, be taken as a model. This 
design should first be copied by the pupils. In the 
analysis the teacher should call upon the class to 
separate the design into its general divisions, or, in 
other words, find its base, and then separate each of 
these general divisions into its elements. Each 


Teachers 1 Association. 


403 


pupil who names a division or element should show 
where it is in the model and draw its outline on 
the blackboard. When the analysis is complete 
proceed as before. 

Several designs should be treated in this way, the 
teacher helping less and less in each new design ; 
but criticising the pupils’ work more and more 
closely as they acquire a better understanding of the 
work and method of study. 

When this method of making designs is under- 
stood, let each pupil be given three or four pieces of 
calico of different patterns, and let the teacher show 
them how they may modify the elements of each, or 
how they may combine one or more elements of 
each of the patterns given them to make a new 
design, and at the next lesson as many as can be 
accommodated should reproduce their sketches on 
the blackboard. When these have been compared 
and criticised the class may be allowed time enough 
to make a design nicely on paper. 

So far the teacher has provided the material with 
which the pupils have worked, and has directed 
how it is to be used. It is desirable now, that the 
pupils be thrown on their own resources, and to this 
end, they should be directed to find their own ele- 
ments, and out of them make a new design. 


404 


North-Eastern Ohio 


All the work up to this point has been, mainly, 
the combining of given elements, and now the pupils 
should be shown how to obtain elements from 
nature for original design. To this end, let each 
pupil be given some simple flower with its leaf and 
stem. All should have similar flowers, in order 
that any instruction given or any suggestion made 
by the teacher, may apply alike to all. The 
teacher should now represent parts of the flower 
on the blackboard ; as, a profile of the flower 
from that point in which its characteristics are best 
expressed, the form of the calyx, the petal, the 
stem cut in cross sections, etc., etc., until enough 
elements have been drawn to illustrate the idea 
This done let the teacher show the class how some 
or all of the elements thus found may be used 
to make a design for a border, a centre piece, or 
any other pattern. When this is done, let the 
class be given the problem to make a sketch of a 
design for one of the three purposes just named, for 
the next lesson. Let as many of these sketches as 
is practicable be reproduced on the blackboard, and 
when they have been sufficiently discussed let the 
class make a new design, nicely, on paper. Now 
let a design for another of the three purposes be 
made from the same flower in the same way to match 
the former. 


Teachers' Association. 


405 


When this design is completed let another 
flower be studied in the same way, and so on until 
the work is understood. 

It should be the aim now to have the pupils make 
designs that shall embody some idea or sentiment. 
To make it plain to the pupils what is desired, let 
each pupil be given some pattern in which this is 
done, and have him analyze it and recombine its 
elements to express the same idea by another 
arrangement. When this is done let the pupils be 
given a flower which is the symbol of the idea or 
sentiment to be expressed, and have them make a 
new design. When the pupils have laid hold of the 
idea let problems be given them to make designs 
which shall express or embody some given senti- 
ment or idea, and send them to the fields to procure 
their own material. 

When the pupils have laid hold of the idea of 
how designs for surface decoration are made, and 
that every design should express something appro- 
priate to the purpose for which it is intended, they 
should have practice in making designs in relief. 

The next step in the course of study is the pro- 
jection of the lines in an object upon two planes of 
projection in such a way that all its dimensions may 
be accurately ascertained from the drawing. To do 


406 


North-Easier n Ohio 


this, it is necessary to teach the pupil what is meant 
by the terms plane of projection and plane and 
elevation. To do this, let the teacher place a rec- 
tangular block on a sheet of paper, and then mark 
around the edge of the block on the paper. Now let 
him explain to the class that the paper is the plane 
of projection, and the drawing on the paper is the 
plane or horizontal projection of one of the faces of 
the block. Now let the instructor bind the paper 
round one edge of the block so as to touch one of 
the vertical faces of the block — the block, mean- 
while, remaining in its original position on the 
paper. The part of the paper which rests against 
the vertical face of the block has now become the 
vertical plane of projection. The teacher now 
marks on the vertical plane around the edge of the 

block, and that makes the elevation or the vertical 

* 

projection. Now let the class be shown that a simi- 
lar drawing may be made on the blackboard, which 
cannot be bent around the block as the paper was. 
To do this Jet the teacher draw a horizontal base 
line on the blackboard to separate the horizontal 
from the vertical plane ; then place the blocK 
against the blackboard, below, and with one of its 
edges on the base line. Now let him mark around 
the block in that position and then revolve it around 


Teachers' Association. 


407 


the base line and mark around it in that position. 
The lirst will be the plane and the second will be the 
elevation. This preliminary work has been found 
to be indispensible to rapid and substantial pro- 
gress. It enables the pupil to comprehend what 
each projection is, and that a drawing can represent 
the exact size and shape of one class of objects, at 
least, without any numerical figures and without 
being a picture of the object. Now let the class be 
shown that similar drawings can be made from 
dimensions taken from the block or from given 
dimensions. When this is done let the class be 
shown how to represent blocks whose sides are 
not parallel to one or the other of the planes of 
projection.* 

When so much as I have just indicated is under- 
stood let the pupils be taught how to represent 
blocks to some given scale that are too large to be 
represented on the planes of projection in their true 
size ; that is, let a certain number of feet in the 
object be represented by an inch in the drawing. 
From this time all problems should be drawn to a 
given scale. 

* It is not well at this time, to attempt to teach the pupil to represent 
lines that are parallel to neither plane of projection as the ability to do 
this is not necessary to the success of the work, at this point, and because 
without this, there is enough to do now, to make what is immediately 
necessary understood, let its consideration be deferred until a knowledge 
of it is essential to the progress of the work. 


408 


'Norlh-Easlern Ohio 


So far the pupils have had to deal only with 
problems in which the blocks were supposed to rest 
against both planes of projection. Now they should 
be taught to represent blocks that are a given dis- 
tance, first from one plane, and then from the other, 
and finally, blocks that are given distances from 
both planes of projection. 

By a system of problems such as has just been 
named, the pupils will have but one condition of 
projections to master at a time, and by having the 
problems executed on the blackboard and ex- 
plained, each pupil will acquire a more complete 
mastery of the subject than could otherwise be 
acquired in the same time. 

When the pupils are able to represent a rectan- 
gular block in plane and elevation under any of the 
conditions just named to any given scale, he is 
ready to begin the study of home architecture. 

Now let there be arranged a series of problems 
in plane and elevation, beginning with a simple 
rectangular box. Let the dimensions of this box 
be changed ; let it be added to here, cut off there, 
its interior divided into compartments, and let 
apertures be cut in the partitions and outside walls 
of various sizes and in various places, until, as 
a result we have a dwelling house in plane and 
elevation. 


Teachers 1 ttssocialion. 


409 


The study of projections in this way is directly 
applicable to the particular branch of industry with 
which every one has to deal in some degree sooner 
or later, and if one can make a dwelling house in 
plane and elevation, with the cornices, chimneys, 
windows, doors, stairs, etc., in their right places 
and proportions, he is possessed of a practical 
knowledge of industrial drawing. 

In all that has been done up to this point, the 
question of culture, for its own sake, has hardly 
been thought of, but since all that we have laid out 
to do can be accomplished long before the pupil has 
graduated from the high school, it becomes neces- 
sary for us now to decide what we are to do in the 
time that remains. The pupils now know how to 
represent chairs, tables, and so forth; they know 
that ornamental designs should express some 
sentiment, and when the best material for design 
is to be had for the taking, and they know how to 
represent a dwelling house in plane and elevation, 
but have as yet learned nothing about the harmony 
of color, at least, not in their drawing lessons. I 
would, therefore, have them instructed next in the 
primary laws of the harmony of color. When this 
is done, I would give the class the problem to find a 
site for a small dwelling house such as a young 


410 


North-Eastern Ohio 


mechanic of limited means would be likely to 
build. The site for such a house must not be 
where land is too expensive ; it must not be too 
far from the centre of business ; it must be in a 
good neighborhood, within easy reach of church 
and school. 

Let the class be allowed a certain time in which 
to find a site, and let each pupil write the locality 
he has chosen on a slip of paper and hand it in to be 
submitted to the decision of the class. At the next 
drawing lesson the teacher names one of the localities 
he finds written on one of the slips ; the class discusses 
its merits, and decides, either to accept it or to look 
further. And so on until either a site is found to 
which the class will agree, or until all the localities 
named have been submitted to the class and have 
been rejected. In which case, let the class try again 
until a site is found. 

When the class'have fixed upon the locality, let 
the pupils prepare a report on the style of the 
houses in the neighborhood. These should be read 
and discussed by the class. The pupils should now 
be allowed sufficient time for each one to make a 
sketch of the style of house he would recommend. 
These should be handed in and several of them 
should be reproduced on the blackboard. The 


Teachers’ Association 


411 


class should then fix upon the style of the house, 
its dimensions and the number of its rooms. 

When this is done let sufficient time be allowed 
to make finished drawings in plane and elevation. 
After the drawings are complete, let the class 
submit designs for wall-paper or fresco, carpets, 
mantles, curtains, and furniture. This will bring 
the pupil in contact with practical problems, such 
as he is sure to be called upon to solve in the future. 

When this house is complete let the pupil be 
given the problem to construct a larger and more 
pretentious house in the same way, and when this 
is done, a larger one still. During the furnishing of 
the houses the pupils should visit the furniture 
stores, and such dwellings as the owners are willing 
to open for the inspection of the pupils under the 
guidance of the instructor, and essays should be 
prepared and read before the class upon styles of 
furniture, arrangement of rooms, etc. 

Asa last step in the course of study in drawing, 
I would say, let such a book as “A Story of a 
House,” by Violett Le Due, be accepted as a text- 
book, and have the class study it thoroughly. The 
designing of houses, and the furnishing of the same, 
is a field that will pay richly for the working. It 
will afford excellent subjects for essays and compo- 
sitions. It will afford a means for the exercise of 


412 'North-Eastern Ohio Teachers' Association. 


every faculty, and is a fusing, as it were, of all the 
branches studied into one. I shall not enlarge upon 
this, but here let me say, that I know that all this 
and more can be done in the common schools, and 
not consume more than one hour and a half per 
week of school time. 

In presenting this I am often asked: “How can 
this be done when the teachers know nothing of it 
themselves, and when most of them are firm in the 
belief that it requires a special talent to learn, and 
that they especially are not of the gifted few. 

Suppose that in a certain system of schools it 
were proposed to introduce the study of drawing, 
and that it were agreed to devote two hours per 
week to its study. I should say, if such a problem 
were presented to me, employ the best teacher that 
can be had ; let it be his special and only work in 
the schools to teach the regular class teachers to 
draw ; when this is accomplished, let the necessary 
apparatus be supplied, and then it can become a 
part of the regular school work with a certainty of 
its being a success. By such an arrangement much 
valuable time would be saved, and there would be a 
smaller outlay of money than is now required by 
any system with which I am acquainted. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


History 5 

By the Editor. 

Inaugural Address of President : 83 

Hon. Thos. W. Harvey. 

Crown the Teacher — A Story of Olympus 87 

W. Bowen, M. D. 

How to Preserve the Eyes 94 

A. Metz, M. D. 

Oral Instruction versus Text-books 110 

H. M. James. 

Training in the Use of Language 123 

Harriet L. Keeler. 

Object Teaching 129 

Samuel Findley. 

The Teacher in Grooves 141 

Miss P. H. Goodwin. 

Promotions and Examinations 156 

E. F. Moulton. 

Honor-Men 171 

Ellen A. Darling. 

Health in the Public Schools 183 

President B. A. Hinsdale. 

Words Correctly Spoken 207 

Elroy M. Avery. 


414 


Table of Contents. 


The Charge of Inflexibility of Graded Schools 220 

E. E. Spaulding. 

Inaugural Address of Second President 235 

I. M. Clemens. 

The High School and the College.... 252 

Professor C. H. Penfield. 

The Education of the Eye 269 

President A. A. E. Taylor, D. D. 

Some Reasons for Teaching Drawing 295 

L. S. Thompson. 


Reading as a Means of Discipline Supplementary to School Training. 319 


Professor Hiram Mead. 

Inaugural Address of Third President... 348 

H. M. Parker. 

Music — Its Object — How, and by whom Taught 359 

N. Coe Stew T art. 

A System of Teaching Drawing for Common Schools 379 

Frank Aborn. 


Curiosity as a Motive Power in Education 

John Bolton. 


284 

















































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